


The Bracelet Of Slytherin

by ShayVixen101



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1940's Hogwarts, 8 year old Hermione Granger, 8 year old Tom Riddle, BAMF Hermione Granger, Compassionate Hermione, Darkish Hermione Granger, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Hermione Granger is a Good Friend, Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jealous Male Characters, Minor Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, Morally Grey Hermione Granger, Multiverse, No nonsense Hermione, Not so Canon - Knights of Walpurgis, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Abraxas Malfoy, POV Hermione Granger, POV Tom Riddle, Parallel Universes, Possessive Male Characters, Riddle at Hogwarts Era, Riddle-Era Hogwarts, Room of Requirement, Sane Tom Riddle, Semi-Soulmates, Strong Independent Hermione, Teenage Tom Riddle, Time Paradoxs, Time Travel, Tom Riddle has money, Young Tom Riddle, overlapping universes, pre-Tom Riddle Era (Hogwarts), sympathy for Tom Riddle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 37,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22729957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayVixen101/pseuds/ShayVixen101
Summary: When an 8-year-old Hermione Granger, wanders off on a school field trip to the Seaside, in what can only be called a major lapse in judgment, and finds a cave and hidden away inside is a bracelet and she puts it on her wrist. The next thing she knows she's waking up in an orphanage after having been transported back in time 50 years. Now she has to learn how to survive as an orphan in 1930's London.9-year-old Tom Riddle has grown up alone and unloved, seen as a blot on society, but he is different from the other orphans, he is superior because he can do things that no one else can do. Until a trip to the Seaside changes all that, when he sees an incredible display of magic done by an unconscious girl he is determined to figure her out.Little do they know that someone is watching them from the shadows, and its anyone's guess as to why.This is what could have happened (and probably happened in a parallel universe) if someone had interfered with time and set Hermione up to go back in time to change the future. To try to stop the bloody, war filled one. The one where Dobby, Sirius, Fred, Snape, Lupin, Tonks, and many many more died.I don't own Harry Potter.
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Narcissa Black Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Abraxas Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Tom Riddle, Narcissa Black Malfoy/?
Comments: 230
Kudos: 442





	1. The Day Time Collided

**Hello, my lovelies.**

**Happy Valentine's Day!!**

**I am new to this site and have never posted a fanfiction before.**

**I do not own any Harry Potter or any of her characters or settings (otherwise I wouldn't be here :P) But I did work really hard to create the plot and the changes you will obviously see.**

**Now, I hope you enjoy my story!! :)**

June 8, 1988...

Hermione Granger hated school field trips. There were so many other things she could be doing with her time. But no she had been stuck on a smelly bus, with a bunch of annoying students, for the past two hours and was losing her mind. She still couldn’t believe her parents had made her go. 

When she had brought home the permission slip weeks ago, she did so with the intention of them checking the no box that meant she wouldn’t have to go. She laughed about how most of the other kids would be suffering through the three-day trip while she got to stay home and read. She had no idea that her parents would actually send her. But this morning her parents dropped her off a backpack full of books, clothes, and money and told her to have fun. 

She had been upset with her parents since then and this morning was no different. So while they dropped her off and told her to be safe, and that they loved her. She said nothing and just stared forward blankly and pouted. She had no idea how much she would come to regret that decision. Just like she had no idea of what awaited her at the Seaside.

When they finally got off the bus some hours later Hermione was thrilled she was the last one in line, and the minute she could she broke off from the group. She might have been extremely book smart, but life smart she was not. She didn’t give any thought to how dangerous it was or the million things that could go wrong. The only thing going through her head was how she just wanted was a quiet place to read in peace. The next thing she knew she was up in a cave high above the Seaside and in the opposite direction her class as going in. This wasn’t the first time that something like this had happened to her. If she felt strongly about something or thought something with a strong emotion strange things would happen. 

When she was a baby and had wanted something that she couldn’t have she had made it fly through the air so it was within her reach or when she was extremely angry she would cause power outages. Teleporting was new but not surprising, she had gotten used to the strange things like this that happened to her. And instead of trying to get down or call out for help, she did what any eight-year-old would do and went exploring. Hermione put her backpack down slightly inside the cave so that it wouldn’t fall down the cliff to the ground below before she started walking inside. She found that the cave wasn’t very deep, only going back about 300 meters and 30 meters across. She also found words carved into the cave walls:

**_Bidh bracelet an nathair a ’laighe a’ feitheamh ris an fhear a tha a ’ciallachadh a bhith ga thagradh agus a’ tighinn còmhla a-rithist le glas na nathair agus a ’toirt còmhla na h-anaman a bhios gan caitheamh._ **

She tried to decipher them in her head but when that failed she spoke them out hoping that she might recognize the language by how it was spoken rather than read. But she never got the chance to try because when she had finished the last word the cave started to shake and she found a handhold in the wall and held on for dear life. Hermione imagined this was what an earthquake felt like and hoped that the cave wouldn’t collapse in on her. She was now starting to realize how dangerous it had been to wander off by herself. The shaking subsided a moment or two later but it felt like an eternity to her. 

“Bloody hell” she groaned to herself, and though she had never used it before she had heard the phrase used by her parents and deemed it fitting for an occasion like the one she was in. She grabbed her backpack which had moved precariously close to the edge of the cave and noticed that the cave had grown larger. And saw something shimmering towards the back of the cave. 

She crawled over the pile of rock that had fallen when the cave had shaken. And found a bracelet in the shape of a snake that was eating its tail. It had different shades of green and some gold running all along it creating a pattern and had silver eyes. She had a strange urge to put it on as if it belonged to her. She picked it on and slid it onto her left wrist it was a perfect fit. 

_ No way _ Hermione thought just as a flash of green light came from her wrist and encompassed her before everything went dark.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

June 8, 1936...

Tom Riddle hated the trips to the Seaside that the orphanage made every year. He didn’t particularly like the sea, and the constant adult supervision made tormenting the other kids that much harder. But after two days of being there, he finally managed to lure away two of the other orphans. Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson, his two least favourite orphans, they were always plotting against him or questioning him in front of people trying to usurp him from being king of the orphanage. But today that all changes. 

Tom had always been able to do things that other people couldn’t, one of those things was control animals without ever training them just like he could make things levitate with his mind. He had spent months practicing both on everything. Animals both large and small along with practicing on some of the other children, Tom had also gone to the cave the day before just to see what was there and was thrilled at what he found. 

He had been coming to the same spot Seaside for as long as he could remember and had noticed a cave that would be impossible to reach by normal means but with his powers, he could get them up there where they would be stuck with him until he deemed it appropriate to bring them back. And since he heard them planning for him to have an “accident” while he was here, and they had been following him around it was fairly simple for Tom to get them alone. 

What he hadn’t been expecting was for Dennis to have the guts to attack him while Amy stole his locket, the minute that they reached the cave. Them attacking him was something that mildly impressed Tom in some sick way, but still made him angry. But stealing his locket the only thing that he had to his name, and was his by birthright was a mistake that they would pay dearly for.

He wouldn’t let any of these people so far below him think themselves his equal or worse, superior. They were weaker than him, they were sheep and he was a lone wolf, forgotten, and accidentally caged with them. 

The second his surprise had worn off and rage had replaced it he sent them flying through the air. They had had a chance while he was surprised but trying to take his locket from him would prove fatal for Dennis and Amy. A low hiss emanated from Tom and Ghala came slithering to his side from the back of the cave. 

She was a giant Sea Serpent who had been migrating from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic Ocean. But didn’t mind helping out a fellow snake especially one who could understand her. And while Tom didn’t understand the part about him being a snake, he was more than happy for her help. 

Tom knew that Dennis and Amy had seen Ghala when he heard their whimpers, pleas for mercy. One or both of them also needed a change of clothes if the smell of urine was any indication. Tom was smiling, pleased greatly by this. The sound of the two of them begging for their lives along with the knowledge that they now knew Tom was their superior had him grinning more than he ever had. Now the only two people in the orphanage who dared to question him had been quelled into submission he really was the king of the orphanage. 

All of a sudden there was a flash of green light and towards the back of the cave a green ball appeared and Tom could see a figure curled up inside the green orb. He could feel the power radiating off of the orb and after another second the orb started to sink to the floor before dissipating slowly. He could faintly register the new whimpers and pleas that had started back up again but he was more focused on what lay on the cave floor. Now that the green orb had disappeared completely he could see that a girl around his age or maybe a little younger had been inside.

She had brown frizzy hair and was tiny compared to him and most of the other kids at the orphanage. He couldn’t see what color her eyes were because they were closed. But that wasn’t what held his interest. No the power he could feel coming off her in waves is what held his attention. He had never felt someone who had anywhere near his power. 

He walked closer to her and saw her eyes flutter as she whimpered. He saw that she was covered in scrapes and bruises where and how she got them Tom wasn’t sure. He bent down closer to her and felt the heat radiating off her body. He pressed his hand against her forehead as he had seen the orphanage nurse do to other children. And when he did he was amazed that she wasn’t dead. He didn’t think it was possible for someone to get this hot. He moved to pick her up realizing that she needed more help than he was capable of giving but made a point to learn a little about healing. When he heard her whimper again he decided to introduce himself.

“Hello,” He said as soothingly as he could bring himself to “I’m Tom, Tom Riddle.”

She whimpered again and mumbled out Tom again. Tom decided right then and there that he would add her to his collection of things. It seemed like she was getting worse and by the second. As he walked to the front of the cave where Dennis, Amy, and Ghala were waiting for him. He hissed a thank you towards Ghala, before glaring at the still whimpering Amy and Dennis. 

“Never breathe a word of this anyone or I will make this seem like nothing in comparison. Got it?” He raised an eyebrow at them during the last part. Once they had both said yes, heads shaking vigorously, he let them down. “Good, and you both had better agree with me when I say that we found her lying on the beach in the same state she is in now.” Again they both shook their heads as hard as they could. And with that Tom got them back to the beach. Where Tom for once in his life was glad to see Mrs. Cole. 

Mrs. Cole took in the state of the children in front of her and then looked accusingly at Tom the only one, not in a dire state. While two of the children were covered in dirt and sand with torn clothes and smelled like urine. The girl Tom was holding looked on the verge of death. With cuts and bruises covering her body clothes torn not to mention the fact that she was on conscious  _ and _ Tom was holding her. The fact that she was still alive was a miracle. 

“What happened?” She asked with the unspoken question:  _ What did Tom do?  _ hanging in the air

As she expected Tom answered the question and was quick and to the point, probably leaving lots of details out. What she wasn’t expecting was for Amy and Dennis to agree with him or when she went to remove the girl from Tom’s arms for her to whimper Tom and clutch his shirt. She could tell that the girl needed help and soon, so instead of trying to take her from Tom’s arms he would let him carry her for now, and instead focused on getting her to the help she needed. 

**So let me know what you think. Also, tell me if you want the next chapter to be in the first person (which I normally work in) or if you like the third person (which I am experimenting with). Or if you just want to see what one chapter in the first person looks like and then decided after that please tell me. I am already working on Chapter 2. I hope you enjoyed.**

**Also, I live in America so my British vocab is limited to what I can see on the internet so if I use a word wrong I am sorry.**

**P.S. I posted this unedited because I wanted it up in time for Valentine's Day but I did spend the last six hours writing this so hopefully my grammar and stuff works but let me know if any of it doesn't.**


	2. Hermione and Tom are in for a Shock

**Hello, my lovelies, I'm back, already.**

**I wanted to say thank you to b777ast for giving me my first comment which made my day.** **And thank you to Lizzien for answering my question from the end of the last chapter.**

**I am posting today because its president's day (an American holiday), and I love to post on holidays when I am off school and this is my last day off for a while so I don't know when I will get the chance to post again.**

**Tell me what you think of the way I formatted this chapter**

**Also, I don't own Harry Potter or the characters, just my plot.**

June 11, 1936…

Wool’s Orphanage, Infirmary… 

London… 

Hermione woke up disorientated she knew that someone else was in the room with her, “Five more minutes mum, please.” She groaned without opening her eyes. 

“Unfortunately we are not your parents.” She heard an unfamiliar voice say back to her. Her eyes opened and she shot up and let out a shriek when she noticed she was in a strange room with strange people.

“Who are you?! Where am I?!” She demanded the thought that she was being rude appeared somewhere in the back of her mind. But wasn’t her first concern, no that was figuring out what had happened. 

“I’m Mrs. Cole, and I run Wool’s Orphanage, which is located in London, England. Now, what’s your name?” She said in a soft voice.

“I’m Hermione Granger.”

“How old are you?”

“I am eight-years-old. Now how did I get here and how long have I been out?”

“It’s June 11, 1936.” She said it with such certainty that Hermione knew it hadn’t been a mistake. “And as to how you got here a couple of the orphans found you washed up on shore while we were on holiday and concerned for you, with a good right, they carried you back with them. You’ve been on conscious for a couple of days now. We were hoping that you could fill in the rest. So tell me, Ms. Hermione, what else do you remember.” Mrs. Cole asked. Hermione’s shock was written on her face and while Mrs. Cole probably thought it was from how she was found, that wasn’t what was causing her distress. No, the date Mrs. Cole had told her was the cause of that. How could it be June 11, **_1936,_ ** that wasn’t possible? Although now looking at what the women in front of her wore it was definitely becoming more of a possibility. Her outfit and hairstyle definitely fit the time period. 

The short curled hair, along with the hat on said hair. But there were also the gloves she wore that only covered till her wrists and her dress with short sleeves and that only just went over her knees. They all fit with the time period when fashion was struggling between being modest and traditional or going towards the future. No, she couldn’t deny that she had somehow ended up in the 1930s. 

And though Hermione was young and in shock understood that she couldn’t just tell the truth. And it just so happened that her dad had a weird obsession with both World Wars and she had been listening to him talk about the 1920s-1940s since she was little. So with her knowledge of this particular time period, she came up with a believable back story based on what she had been told by Mrs. Cole and her father. 

“My family and I had been on holiday in America and had been coming back from New York City when our boat started sinking. My mom put me on one of the lifeboats, kissed my forehead and told me she would be right back before she went to get my dad and little sister. The next thing I knew I was in the water floating away from the boat and then everything went black and I woke up here.” She used all her fear and sadness to make it sound believable “Do you think any of them survived?” Hermione asked already knowing that the answer would have to be a resounding no. And she knew the perfect shipwreck.

“I don’t know, sweetheart, do you know the name of the ship?” Mrs. Cole said again using a soft voice.

“The Blairgowrie” I replied

With that Mrs. Cole left but not before promising that she would be back as soon as she could.

Not even a few seconds had passed since she had left when the door opened again and a boy walked in. He looked a little bit older than her and was wearing clothes that while worn out, and a bit on the dreary side was still in good condition. 

He had hair as dark at the night sky, and eyes the colour of chocolate. But something about his presence made the hairs on Hermione’s neck standing up, and when he looked at her it made her want to flee from him. Something wasn’t quite right about him, though Hermione couldn’t figure out what. 

Hermione watched him assess her until he had come to a conclusion. He started to approach her like he was scared she would disappear. He watched her and she watched him for what felt like an eternity but was probably only a moment or two until he finally got within a range at which they could talk. 

He stood there for another second and it looked like he was debating something before he said: “Hello, do you remember who I am?” He asked. His voice sounded familiar but Hermione wasn’t sure why.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t, am I supposed to?” She asked slightly confused. 

“No, it’s fine,” He said, although his tone suggested otherwise, “I would have been surprised if you did.” As he turned around and moved towards the door he had come through. 

As he walked away from her something inside her pushed past the part of her that was hesitant of him and called out: “Wait, don’t go. Please!” And her left-hand shot out from under the sheet towards him. But he kept walking: “Please,” she pleaded, although it came out as more of a whisper. But this time he turned towards her, mouth open like he was about to say something, but stopped when he caught sight of her bracelet.

“Where did you get that?!” He exclaimed at her like he wasn’t sure if he was surprised, angry, accusatory or all three.

“It was a gift from my mother. She found it and gave it to me.” Hermione said slightly offended that he had the audacity to ask like he was accusing her of something. She knew it was a lie, and he may be right to accuse her but it was still offensive that he accused her when he didn’t even know her name.

He looked at her as though he knew she was lying about something he just wasn’t sure what. He went to leave again and Hermione didn’t want him to leave on a bad note so instead, she said:

“I’m Hermione Granger by the way.” She practically shouted at him. He froze for a second, hand on the door handle. Before pushing it open and walking out. But as the door closed behind him she heard:

“And I’m Tom Riddle.” It was so quiet she almost missed it. She smiled as she bounced the name around her head. _Tom Riddle, how very fitting. Maybe life here won’t be too bad._ She was still smiling when Mrs. Cole came back, grim-faced.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_June 11, 1936…_

_Wool’s Orphanage, Room #27…_

_London…_

Tom had just gotten back to his room after visiting the infirmary. He had been hiding in the hallway during the times Mrs. Cole had been in the room with the girl, eavesdropping. 

_Hermione_ , she would make a great addition to his collection. At first, Tom was slightly apprehensive. He had spent the past two days building her up in his mind, thinking of what she would be like and all the things he could teach her. He had snuck down at night to watch her unconscious form hoping she would wake up. 

So when she woke up and he wasn’t the first person to meet her, he had been upset. And the second he could he snuck away to see her. And got there right as Mrs. Cole had been leaving. He had been cautious of her and what her emotional state might be. 

Tom might not understand emotions very well particularly sadness, why would you cry. It did nothing to help you and caused your eyes to become red and puffy. But he had seen enough from the new orphans to know that it was something he never wanted to get caught in the crossfire of. He would let the others deal with that, it was one of the other things that made him above others.

But to his surprise, the girl was not crying instead she sat there peacefully and studied him. He didn’t like it, it reminded him of how the doctors, that Mrs. Cole brought in, studied and documented him. 

After a minute Tom started towards her staring at her the same way she was staring at him. Once he had gotten as close as he dared, he paused for a moment debating what he should ask her first. That had been something he had been struggling to figure out, should ask her if she remembered him, what her name was, ask her what had happened to her. 

And in that second he had intended to introduce himself and be polite. But when he opened his mouth “Hello, do you remember me?” Came out of his mouth instead.

That had never happened to him before. He had always had complete control of himself, and the fact that he had said something he never intended to irritated him to no end. But he managed to keep his irritation hidden, something that he had spent his whole life practicing. But then to add salt to a wound, she had said no, she didn’t remember him. For some reason that bothered him more than anything else had in his entire life.

At that point, he was done with her. He had been ready to say that she was ordinary and that he had made up the entire incident, and had just found her on the beach. As he started towards the door, he heard he ask him to stay but ignored her and kept walking. A second later he stopped walking and turned around to find her hand outstretched towards him. 

He was shocked not only did she compel him the same way he had Amy and Dennis, but she also had a bracelet that matched the locket that he usually kept hidden away under his clothes. And when he had questioned her about it she lied, about what he couldn’t quite tell. Just that she hadn’t told him the full truth.

But by this time he was thoroughly annoyed, at himself for being weak, but at her for making him weak. He was again leaving when he heard her practically shout at him her name. 

Hermione Granger.

Tom figured it was only fair to tell her what his name was. Though whether she heard it or not wasn’t his problem. And with that, the door had clicked closed behind him.

On his way back to his room Tom saw Mrs. Cole heading back to the infirmary grim-faced and made a split-second decision to follow her. He hid in the shadows and heard Mrs. Cole tell Hermione the news about her family.

Tom had thought that she would be a sobbing mess after learning of her family’s untimely demise after all most of the other children had when they had been brought here under similar circumstances. But to Tom’s amazement, she hadn’t dissolved into a childish mess.

And after Tom heard Mrs. Cole tell Hermione that she would be staying in the infirmary for the night he left and head back to room #27. Tomorrow Mrs. Cole would find a room to place Hermione in and Tom was determined to make sure it was the room across the hall from him.

**Please review and tell me what you think of Tom and Hermione right now. I'm trying to figure out where I want Hermione to go. So any ideas you have and want to see please tell me. I will try to post again as soon and hopefully by this weekend but seeing as I can but seeing as to how I am dealing with school I make no promises.**


	3. Room #26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is just a way to get everything set in place so I can start getting the story going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, lovelies, I back again (sooner than I expected) and have some stuff that needs mentioning.  
> So firstly I finally figured out that chapter notes was a thing. So from now on, I will be using this and summary (although only when I feel it is needed. Second, I wanted to say thank you to all of you who commented and left a Kudo, it encouraged me to try to finish and post this chapter as quickly as I did. Thirdly, I a history geek especially for WWI and WWII and all the stuff in between. I literally went to France with my family purely for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, because as a family of history teachers and historians that is what we find fun. Fourthly, I tend to write in fits and don't necessarily have a plot in mind so I am just going with the flow. This story came into creation by complete accident on Valentine's Day and I spent 6 hours writing and researching it before posting. Fifthly while I have thus far been asking for opinions I will let you know that I might stop at some point in the future, once I finally start figuring out where this story is going. But for now, I will still be asking for opinions, and even when I stop I will always love feedback.  
> P.S. I have life to deal with and was lucky to finish this chapter as quickly as I did. But as always, please review and I will post again as soon as I can.

_ June 12, 1936…  _

_ Wool’s Orphanage, Mrs. Cole’s Office…  _

_ London…  _

Hermione had just been brought to Mrs. Cole’s office. She had been woken up by the nurse, given a dress to change into and a pair of gloves and then she walked to Mrs. Cole’s office. The dress was cut in a similar fashion to Mrs. Cole’s. Although Hermione’s looked newer and to be in better condition. 

It was a light shade of blue, with a white collar, and flowers of a couple of different types on it, the shoulders had a slight puff to it. White ankle socks and black shoes with a buckle, that quite honestly looked like tap dancing shoes, completed the look. And while her long brown curly hair didn’t necessarily match the time periods hairstyles, she decided that she wouldn’t cut it. 

The nurse dropped Hermione off outside Mrs. Cole’s office before going back to the now-empty infirmary. Hermione stood outside for a second or two calming her nerves. She had no idea as to why she was nervous, but she had a feeling things were going to get interesting and not necessarily in a good way. 

Hermione opened the door and found two children she didn’t recognize already in the office with Mrs. Cole. Hermione hesitated for a second and Mrs. Cole, seeing that, waved her hand, motioning for Hermione to come in. Hermione looked at the children again, both of whom hadn’t taken their eyes off her since she walked in. 

The boy had brown hair and was dressed similarly to Tom, although this boy’s clothes looked worse for wear with tears patched up like they had done it in the dark. While the girl had blonde hair and was dressed in a plaid dress, that had started to fade, from being washed too many times. 

They both looked as normal as Hermione had expected. But it was their gaze that startled her. They looked empty, they saw without actually seeing. It made her wonder what could have happened to cause that and she just prayed that nothing like that happened to her. They both tried to smile at her, but it was weak and she could tell that they were just trying to reassure her. 

A “Uhm,” from Mrs. Cole drew Hermione’s gaze from the other children.

“Ms. Granger,” Mrs. Cole started, “Seeing as you are now a resident here for the foreseeable future, I thought it prudent to have some of the other children take you around.”

“That is Ms. Amy Benson,” Mrs. Cole said, pointing at the girl. “And Mr. Dennis Bishop.” Hermione gave a small wave towards them. “They were the ones who found you on the beach.”

All of a sudden the door swung open and the boy, Tom, from the infirmary came walking in like he owned the place. 

“Really, Mrs. Cole, you are not going to introduce me.” He sounded calm, and no obvious signs of anger appeared on his face. 

Hermione glanced back and saw Mrs. Cole had slightly backed away and while she was trying to look like his presence didn’t bother her, Hermione could see her hands shaking. Meanwhile, Amy and Dennis weren’t even trying to hide their fear. Amy looked as though she was trying to curl up and disappear, while Dennis looked like he was trying self-control; as to not wet himself. And Hermione herself was fighting her instinct to flee. Although she hadn’t the faintest clue as to why. 

“T-Tom what are you doing here?” Mrs. Cole tried to sound forceful and probably would have if her voice hadn’t hesitated when she had said his name. Tom smirked when he heard the hesitation. 

“Well,” He drawled, “I thought that Hermione, here, meet  _ all _ her  _ heroes _ ,” Tom said the word with disdain like it had personally offended him. But yet he still wanted to be included. 

“Yes, well, that’s Tom Riddle,” Mrs. Cole said with a dismissive wave towards his general direction. Hermione’s eyes shot back towards Tom and she thought that she caught a glimpse of a frown in the corner of her vision but it was gone by the time she managed to get a good look at him. 

There was a moment of silence in the room, as Tom stared at Mrs. Cole and the tension in the room was so palpable that Hermione could cut it with a knife. Before Mrs. Cole continued as though Tom had never entered.

“As I was saying, they were the ones to find you on the beach and I thought that it might be nice for them to show you how things work here. But right now we need to get you a room to stay in. The orphanage is pretty full, so you will probably have to share a-” Tom abruptly cut her off.

“No, it’s not the west, hallway, on the second story has mostly, empty rooms. In fact, room #26, is most defiantly unoccupied.”

“A- No- It- You- No” Mrs. Cole was struggling to come up with a response to Tom’s words.

“In fact, I could take her there now. And show her around, myself, so as to not inconvenience Amy and Dennis.”

“No, that’s okay fine Tom. Amy and Dennis already said they would. And it’s not an inconvenience to them.” Mrs. Cole looked towards them as if expecting them to back her up. Amy looking at the floor shakily shook her head no before running out of the room with Dennis not far behind her. Leaving a gaping Mrs. Cole staring at the door they had just run through like she couldn’t figure out what had happened. 

The corners of Tom’s mouth turned up as he watched and before Mrs. Cole could come up with a response, Tom had grabbed Hermione’s wrist and pulled her out of the office, down the hallway. But Tom didn’t loosen his grip on Hermione’s wrist until after they had gone down a flight of stairs and another hallway.

When he did Hermione quickly pulled her wrist away from him. Hermione was wary of Tom, especially after what had happened in the office just minutes ago, but she had resolved to be polite to him. She didn’t want to make him an enemy, especially since she had been here for less than a day. But being polite didn’t mean Hermione would just let him manhandle her. Although the glare he gave her made her regret pulling her wrist away.

Tom turned and started down the hallway, without a word, as if expecting her to follow him automatically. And even if she did not want to be alone with him more than necessary right now was one of those times she would just have to deal with it. Since Hermione still didn’t know her way around, although she swore to herself that learning the orphanage grounds would be a priority. So that’s how Hermione found herself reluctantly following Tom Riddle down a dark, empty hallway. 

~oOo~

As Hermione followed Tom down the passageway, their footsteps echoed off the stone walls. And as the sun shown through the clouds it made the hallway that much more dreary.

Tom still had not said a word to her, nor had he directly addressed her, but Hermione hadn’t either so she couldn’t complain. All of a sudden he stopped and Hermione nearly ran into him. Hermione saw that they had stopped in front of a door with  #26 written on it, Tom opened the door for her. 

The room wasn’t big by any means though it wasn’t as small as she expected. The bed had a blanket on it, covers, and a pillow. There was a window behind the bed with the desk next to it, and a cabinet at the foot of the bed. The room looked to be clean and the furniture in good condition and the cabinet would be the perfect place to keep her stuff.

It was only then that she realized that she didn’t know where her backpack was. That thought made her want to cry, it was all she had left from her parents. She faintly registered the rustling that was coming from behind her. 

“Here,” Tom said, but when she didn’t react he sighed.

“Hermione,” He said putting her backpack into her hands. Hermione was shocked though and just stared at him, he had directly addressed, using her name for the first time. 

Tom turned and started to walk out, causing her to snap out of it.

“Tom, where are you going?” Hermione asked he kept walking “You can’t just leave me here I have no idea how to get around.” She snapped at him, panic starting to take over. He stopped and turned to her, smirking.

“I’m going to my room.” He stopped at the door across the hall from her room and opened the door. He walked in and closed the door behind him leaving her there trying to figure out what had just happened. 


	4. Tom has Life Threatening Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom has some very life-threatening ideas and some very intresting things happen as a result.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two weeks and 3 essays later... I'm finally back. Yeah! This chapter I'm working on showing more of Tom's psychopathic side, along with slowly getting us closer to Hogwarts. This chapter is also to make up for the fact that the last chapter was all from Hermione's POV. Also, I didn't really edit this chapter, sorry for any mistakes.  
> Anyway... Enjoy!

June 28, 1936… 

Wool’s Orphanage… 

London… 

It had been two weeks since Hermione Granger had come to Wool’s Orphanage and Tom had officially lost his patience. Tom had spent the past two weeks watching Hermione, waiting for her to show the slightest hint of the power hidden beneath her skin. The only reason he had remained this patient was that he could feel the power vibrating in the air around her, particularly when she was angry, annoyed or scared.

But as the days went on his patience began to run dry and his anger towards Hermione had grown, and today had been the last straw. He wanted to see her powers again and feel the air crackle around him as it happened, and Tom was determined that before the day was out that would be the case.

The one good thing about having spent the past two weeks watching Hermione was that he had learned her routine. Every day after lunch, while the other orphans were with the tutors, Hermione would either be up on the balcony or if it was raining, in the library, reading. Tom had come up with a plan, for when she was up on the balcony. He would “accidently” push her over the railing so that her powers came out to save her, and if they didn’t… well, it wasn’t his fault she was weak as the rest of them. 

The plan had seemed perfect until it had started to rain right as lunch started. Normally, Tom would have called the plan off and done it another day. But Tom was sick of waiting. And as Tom watched as Hermione finished lunch with some other orphans and headed towards the library, in the opposite direction as the others, Tom followed. 

When he reached the wooden double doors to the library he slowly opened them, and then waited to hear the soft clicking sound indicating that it had closed. The library was not grand by any means but it did suffice. 

The walls were lined with books, and there was a wood railing, about 10 meters from the door, that ran wall to wall only breaking in the middle where there was a small staircase only about 6 steps before it opened up again. There was a fireplace on the other side of the room with the two most comfortable chairs in the orphanage facing it. In the middle of the room, there was a long table covered in the books with wooden chairs pushed off to one side.

The library was the best place in the whole orphanage. It was always devoid of people and so underused that most of the furniture and books were in great condition even years, probably decades, old. Although Tom had never used the fireplace because it had always been lacking wood. But as Tom entered the library the heard the crackling of a fire and stood there for a second watching the flames dance, before focusing again. 

Tom had come to the library with no real plan, only that he needed to do something. He thought maybe causing some books to fall around her might be enough but as he looked at the fire he came up with something much more life-threatening. 

Tom closed his eyes and pictured the flames in his head. He felt his power humming under his skin. He pictured them slowly climbing out of the fireplace onto the book Hermione was reading. He forced his will into the flames making them do what he wanted. And when he opened his eyes he watched the flames slowly climb out of the fireplace and towards Hermione. Tom heard her shriek and then felt a blast of power come from Hermione knocking the chair she had been sitting in over. 

Tom relished in the wave of power that Hermione had sent through the room. His plan had worked better than he had expected it to, he managed to get Hermione to release her power, it had been stronger than what Tom thought she was capable of. 

“That was amazing.” He muttered. He hadn’t meant for Hermione to hear him, but unfortunately, she had. And the expression she wore when she looked at him sent shivers down his spine and caused goosebumps to go through his body. And Tom wondered if this was the emotion most people called fear felt like. It wasn’t necessarily the glare that caused this reaction, so much as what her power felt like unleashed and swirling around the room like a dangerous cloud.

“Was that you?” She asked in a quiet voice. When Tom didn’t answer she asked again: “Tom Riddle, was that you?!” Tom could feel Hermione’s power vibrating, adding a slight shimmer to the air around her as her anger grew.

“So what if I did,” Tom said with a slight smirk.

“You not only nearly killed me but what’s worse is you destroyed the book I was reading!” She shrieked at him. “What the bloody hell is wrong with you!” 

Tom watched in awe as she floated off the floor, hair flying around her and books levitating behind her. The sheer power Hermione was showcasing was astounding and she wasn’t even trying to use it. 

If Hermione had this much raw power now, Tom wondered how powerful he would be with their combined powers when they were older and more focused. The amount of power that he would have would make them unstoppable. And Tom just needed a way to manipulate and control her so that she would listen to him.

But that could wait for a little while later, right now Tom had to focus more on calming Hermione. 

“Look, I’m sorry,” Tom said, he didn’t think he had done anything wrong but if it would calm her down then he would say it. “I just wanted to see your powers again.” 

When she didn’t respond he continued,

“You're like me, you’re special, you’re powerful, you’re brilliant. I’m sorry that I attacked you and killed your book.” He watched as Hermione floated down and the books dropped like bricks onto the floor before he continued;

“I promise I won’t do that again.” Tom had no intention of keeping that promise but had learned that flattery along with apologies and promises went a long way in making people happy, even if you didn’t mean a word of the apology or promise.

“And why should I believe you.” Tom’s temper flared, he hadn’t expected her to say that, he had expected her to just take his apology and for this part of the conversation to be done. Instead, she kept talking, “The things the other children say that you do, and the way they act around you isn’t right. It’s going to take more than just empty promises and flattery.” And with that, she walked past him and left the library. When Tom, heard the door click shut his temper snapped and the table snapped in half behind him, causing more books to fall onto the floor. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_June 28, 1936…_

_Wool’s Orphanage…_

_London…_

_Hermione’s Thoughts…_

Hermione had been at Wool’s for two weeks now, and while she still cried herself to sleep at night and missed her parents, she had wasted no time settling in and learning about life at Wool’s. 

And in those two weeks, she had learned a lot, and most of it was not good. She learned that tutors taught the orphans after lunch, although she was already far more advanced than what they could teach her and instead had opted out. She had also learned her way around the orphanage. 

But out of everything she had learned the two most important things were that it was everyone for themselves and that Tom Riddle was dangerous and could do things that no one else could. A lot like how she made weird things happen around her when she was angry, or scared. And though she had no proof other than the words of the other orphans it was just more evidence that she needed to stay as far away from him as possible. 

It was why, when fire attacked her in the library and she saw Tom behind her, Hermione had wasted no time accusing him not thinking of any of the consequences of what she had said. 

And while it was too late to change how things had happened, Hermione just hoped that she hadn’t made a huge mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are steadily approaching Hogwarts, albeit, slowly. I am already starting to prepare for it, but I am having some issues on which house to put Hermione in and was hoping for you guys to give me your opinions. It's between Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor.


	5. Snake Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a venomous snake in a courtyard, an annoyed Hermione and an Adder snake. What could possibly happen? There is also a special treat at the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you MelodySwanMiller and Winternox13 for being the first two to vote on which house they want to put Hermione into. You guys are awesome.  
> Also sorry for the short chapter last time but that chapter did not want to be written. And I am aware that this chapter is still short but this one is because I got everything that needed to be said out.  
> Also, I didn't really edit this at all so sorry about any mistakes.

July 12, 1936… 

Wool’s Orphanage… 

London… 

It had been a couple of weeks since the library incident with Tom, and in those weeks Hermione had gone out of her way to avoid Tom. She checked around corners to see if he was there, she would watch him when he was in the same room as her and made sure they were never alone. She had even started accompanying the other orphans to their lesson and had given up on going to the library for fear of being caught alone with Tom. 

But after two weeks of living in fear of being caught alone with Tom Hermione was starting to get annoyed. She decided that next time she saw Tom alone she was going to go talk to him about everything that had happened in the library. 

The next day her chance came. The orphans had gone out to the courtyard to enjoy the nice day. Hermione had planned a hundred different ways the conversation could go and how she would act, unfortunately, for Hermione her eight-year-old emotions were stronger than logic. And when she saw Tom all her annoyance came flooding into the forefront of her mind and with that annoyance came anger. And in what can only be called a lapse in judgment along with a hint of reckless courage, Hermione stomped her way over to the oak tree at the corner of the courtyard that she had seen Tom slink behind, fully intending to give him a piece of her mind. 

But what she found caused her to stop dead in her tracks and any trace of anger and annoyance dissipated in favor of curiosity. There sitting behind the tree was Tom on the ground, holding an Adder in his hands and making a weird sound that seemed like a combination of whispering and hissing and to her surprise, the snake seemed to be responding to him. Hermione wasn’t sure what Tom was doing but decided to just assume that it was similar to the magic he had been doing in the library and went back to focusing on the snake. 

The snake was white with a black zigzag pattern indicating that it was male and a fully grown one if the length was any indication. The snake turned to look at her for a second before hissing something to Tom. When Tom’s piercing chestnut eyes met hers she assumed that the snake had alerted Tom to her presence. 

“Look, if you're going to scream and run away or something then please just get it over with.” Tom let out a sigh of exasperation. “But then leave me be.” 

Hermione was taken aback for a second, she had always had a thing for snakes and sometimes forgot that most people didn’t share her feelings, and she had to assume that Tom had had something similar happen to him. 

“I’m not going to scream Tom.” Tom just raised an eyebrow at this and she continued. “I happen to love snakes.” This time Tom did send her a look of disbelief.

Hermione risked a step closer to Tom and sat down. She knew this was a bad idea, they were hidden behind a tree, on the opposite side of the courtyard, away from all the others. Tom could easily do something to her and there would be no witnesses but she trusted him even though he had done nothing but give her reasons not to trust him.

“He really is beautiful,” Hermione said to no one in particular. 

“How do you know it's a male?”

“Because male Adders are either white or grey with a black zigzag, and are smaller than female Adders.”

“And why do you know so much about snakes?” Tom asked 

Hermione blushed and said, “I told you I like snakes.” Hermione, answering questions, decided to turn the tables and ask him something: “Can you talk to snakes?”

When he didn’t respond right away she decided to take that as a yes. “Can I hold him, please?” Hermione didn’t wait for a response though, she just took the snake. Her bracelet accidentally brushed his hand and the silver eyes on the bracelet glowed and a tongue shot out and made a hissing noise before the bracelet went back to normal. 

Neither of them said anything they just sat in silence, a silence that was finally broken when the snake in Hermione’s hand hissed, causing Tom to give a small smile.

“What did he say?” Hermione asked curious as to what could have possibly made Tom smile a genuine smile albeit a small one.

“Oh, nothing, nothing that would interest you in the least.”

Hermione spent the rest of the day talking with Tom. Long after the snake had left and the storm had started as they went in for dinner. Hermione had even moved and sat next to Tom where they continued to talk and talk. And Hermione finally realized the bonus of having a room right next to Tom’s, as they talked the night away. It had been the best day Hermione had had since she had landed in Wool’s and Tom was probably the best conversationalist she had ever met. Even adults couldn’t compare to him and Hermione wondered if this was what having a friend was like. And if so she hoped that this was only the beginning of a beautiful friendship between them.

______________________________________________________________________________

July 12, 1936… 

Outside Wool’s Orphanage… 

London… 

Tom and Hermione were so caught up in their own world that they didn’t even notice the shadowy figure standing out on the sidewalk watching them. The woman’s face was obscured by the umbrella that was keeping her dry. 

The woman had been watching them for weeks now and as she turned away from the orphanage and the two orphans and she started down the sidewalk the only you could barely make out the small smile she had on her face.

****************************************************************************************************

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder who this mysterious lady is. You will find out soon, I am already working on the next chapter.


	6. The Rabbit and The Annoying New Orphan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new orphan comes to the orphanage and Tom doesn't like them, their rabbit, or the attention Hermione gives them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovelies,  
> Its been crazy thanks to COVID-19, I hope everyone's been safe and healthy.  
> All this chaos kinda reminds me of when its hurricane season, with all the panic, and raiding of grocery stores, except we still have power and this is more worldwide, but now the rest of the world has some idea of what hurricanes and the days leading up to it are like.  
> Anyway,  
> Shout out to Laura(again) for leaving an awesome comment and voting on which house, and MelodySwanMills for the awesome comment. And thank you to MelissaRodoo who informed me about a minor mistake I made, that is now fixed, and who also left a nice comment.
> 
> And now for the reason, you are here... the chapter. Enjoy!

September 19, 1936… 

Wool’s Orphanage… 

London… 

There was a new orphan and it was putting Tom in a horrible mood, worse than normal if the wide berth the other orphans were giving him was any indication. In fact, the only one who seemed not to notice it was Hermione who had jumped at the chance to show the newest orphan around and had not stopped talking about it until she had left to go meet them. Tom normally hated when new orphans came because they didn’t know the rules, like that he was king and he had to show them. But this time he was more annoyed than normal because Hermione was in charge of helping him and that meant that instead of working on strengthening their magic or talking about theories and philosophy she was instead with Billy Stubbs.

Tom’s anger towards Billy Stubbs only increased when Hermione came back and proceeded to talk continuously about his rabbit and how fluffy and cute it was. And then went on to talk about Billy Stubbs some more. But Tom was putting up with it because in the past couple of months of being “friends”, or at least that's what she called them, with Hermione he had learned that it was easier to put up with it rather than try to argue with her. She was just as stubborn as he was and Tom still couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Thankfully everything went back to normal the next day and Hermione had stopped talking about Billy and his rabbit, Tom decided to just put yesterday behind them and pretend it never happened. And that worked the whole morning while they were up in the west wing of the second story. But when they had come down to lunch Hermione invited Billy Stubbs over to sit with them. During lunch, Tom discovered that Billy was everything Tom hated and the exact opposite of Hermione for that very reason. 

Billy was slightly taller than Tom and looked like he had never missed a meal, his eyes were red and his cheeks were covered in tear stains, and his blonde hair looked like it had never seen a comb. He talked about the most inconsequential things, ate like a pig and when he was done was covered in food both on his face and his clothes. In other words, Billy Stubbs was an ill-mannered, unrefined boy. Where Hermione was regal, elegant, most of the time, and brilliant. Tom couldn't figure out why Hermione liked him so much.

But everything went south out in the courtyard. Hermione had introduced Billy to some other orphans before sitting with Tom again and reading with him. But when Hermione got up and left to use the loo, Billy proved exactly how stupid he was. Billy walked over towards him but Tom just ignored him and kept reading assuming that he would take the hint and go away. Then Billy’s stubby food-stained fingers reached out and grabbed the book from Tom’s hands. He then proceeded to mock Tom and while all the other orphans started to back away from them Billy didn’t seem to notice. And when Tom stood up and calmly asked for his book back, Billy shoved Tom causing him to stumble backward. Tom had completely lost his forced politeness and though his face betrayed nothing the other orphans, who had witnessed Tom’s anger before, had gotten as far from Billy as they could. 

Tom summoned flames onto his hands hoping that it would scare Billy into giving him the book back and leaving him alone. Unfortunately, Billy Stubbs was the worst kind of ordinary, he was the kind that was too stupid to realize what they were and wouldn’t be deterred by just a simple show of power no Tom would have to go for the kill shot, something he took great pleasure in. But Tom needed time to find that weak spot, luckily Hermione walked back out and Billy gave Tom the book back.

That had been hours ago and Tom had now had the time to find Billy’s weak spot. His stupid rabbit, the one he clung to as his last reminder of the life he had before Wool’s Orphanage. A rabbit Tom was about to use to teach Billy a couple of very important lessons. 

He took a step back and admired his handy work. The rabbit was hanging dead from the rafters. The rabbits normally white fur had red on the neck and blood was dripping down onto the floor. This sent a very nice, very clear message to Billy, in Tom’s opinion it also would help teach him the most important rules at the orphanage. Those rules being to never pick a fight if you have anything of value that can be used against you. Never pick a fight unless you are sure you can emerge victoriously and NEVER pick a fight with Tom Riddle. Those were the three most important rules at Wool’s and those were the three rules Billy had managed to break in a matter of minutes.

But just as Tom had been about to leave he heard a familiar gasp from behind him and turned around to find Hermione. 

“Tom what did you do?” Tom sighed, there went his plan to leave and go enjoy the rest of his day in peace.

“What does it look like I did?” He said as he tried his best to not give away his emotions.

“Let me rephrase that: why did you do this, Tom?” At that idiotic question, Tom’s anger came out.

“I did this because of the way you were talking about him and treating him and because while you were gone he took my book and he needed to be taught a lesson.” As Tom talked his face had started to turn red.

“Tom I saw the argument an-” Tom cut her off

“You saw the argument and did absolutely nothing to help me.” Tom’s face was almost as red as a tomato.

“Listen, Tom-”

“I-”

“NO!” Hermione snapped finally losing her temper “You, Tom Marvolo Riddle will listen to me right now! Is that clear?!” Tom gave a slight nod as the lights flickered and he looked slightly shocked. She didn’t lose her temper often but when she did it could be scary. “Good. I did see the fight, and after you left I confronted Billy about it and then slapped him and ended the friendship after he tried to lie to me about what happened. So this,” Hermione gestured towards the dead rabbit dripping blood onto the floor, “was unnecessary. Now I won’t tell anybody it was you who did this but I do hope that next year this isn’t my birthday present.” And with that Hermione turned and walked out of the room.

Tom stared at her as she walked away and started moving his sore jaw. She hadn’t even realized that she had used magic to get him to stop talking and Tom wasn't sure if it was a good thing that she was strong enough that even he couldn't break free. Tom stood there was a few minutes still partly dumbfounded by what Hermione had done before he realized that he would be in huge trouble if he was found here. About halfway back to room #27 the screaming started as his little present to Billy Stubbs was found and Tom couldn't help but smile at the sounds of terror.

______________________________________________________________________________

September 19, 1936… 

Wool’s Orphanage… 

London… 

The lady was wearing a sapphire blue dress that matched her eyes as she watched the orphanage from under the shade of a tree across the street. She made sure that her blue ribbon hat obscured her face and the shadows of the branches helped hide her. Even if Tom and Hermione didn’t know who she was or that she had been watching them she still didn’t want anyone to be able to identify her. But with her expensive dress and poised manner she didn’t exactly blend in with the people that occupied East London. 

And though she despised East London she would always stay as long as she thought she could get away with it. But as the sunset on Hermione’s 9th birthday, she made her way from under the tree and started down the mud and grime cobblestone street, not wanting to wait and see what East London held once the sun had fully set. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a little info on East London. During the 1930s it was a horrid place to live and grow up because the people there lived in extreme poverty which is why it is mentioned the way it is. 
> 
> Also, I have almost finished the next chapter but I am trying to figure out the ratings because I am not sure if one of the ratings apply to the next chapter so I am going to post it without the rating but if you feel like it could use a rating/warning then please tell me.


	7. Dr. Jakyll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Tom had a "visitor" that causes him to relive some very unpleasant memories. All the while Hermione is down in the library investigating a mysterious new book. (This chapter mostly takes place in Tom's memory and you see this ~0~o~0~ where the memory starts and ends).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay,  
> So I never meant to write this chapter it just popped into my head right after I posted the last chapter and I thought it would help explain a lot of Tom's behavior and hatred of the world while also helping to explain some of his reactions to someone later on in the story. There is more info about this at the endnotes.
> 
> But unfortunately, it is not a good memory or happy chapter in any way and while I never directly say what happens to Tom it is heavily implied and because of that, I changed the warnings and ratings and I think I did it right but I am still getting used to AO3 so if I need to change it please let me know.  
> But anyway here is the story...

September 21, 1936… 

Wool’s Orphanage… 

London… 

Tom had always hated doctors, particularly the ones that Mrs. Cole brought in to examine him. Tom knew that Mrs. Cole had always feared and despised him and was trying to find any reason to send him to an asylum. And any time something out of the ordinary happened whether it was his fault or not she would bring one to see him. 

So it was no surprise to Tom that the day after Billy’s rabbit had been found swinging from the ceiling Mrs. Cole came to Tom’s room with a doctor. Mrs. Cole introduced the doctor to Tom and then left the room, leaving only Tom and the doctor in room 27. 

Tom was pleased that Hermione had gone down to breakfast early and was planning on spending some time in the library and wouldn’t know about the doctor visit. Because he wasn’t in the mood to explain to her why the doctor was visiting and then have to deal with her worrying about him. 

Tom turned towards the doctor and studied the man’s face for a moment. The man was tall and lithe, with short brown hair that was combed back and dressed in a formal white shirt with a black tie, and dress pants and was carrying a black bag in his hand. And Tom nearly let out a sigh of relief when he saw this doctor did not resemble Dr. Jakyll at all. 

~0~o~0~

Dr. Jakyll had started visiting Tom when he was five. The first time he visited was when Tom’s magic was still fairly new to him and he hadn’t quite gotten control of it yet and had accidentally blown out a window after another kid had taken his book. Later that day Mrs. Cole had knocked on Tom’s door and introduced Dr. Jakyll before leaving him alone with the doctor. 

Dr. Jakyll was a short man that looked like moving took effort to do. He had auburn colored hair and beard the same color, and was dressed in white lab coat along with a black bag in his hands and a stethoscope around his neck. He had half-moon glasses, and a twinkle in his eyes, a twinkle that Tom later learned was not there because he was friendly and jolly. 

The first visit with Dr. Jakyll had started off similarly to the other times he had been checked over by doctors, even if those had been few and far between. He had used the stethoscope on Tom and asked a few questions before instructing Tom to take his clothes off all his clothes and sit on the bed while Dr. Jakyll closed the door. 

Tom shuddered at the thought of what happened next. It was the first and last time Tom had felt fear run through his veins. After Dr. Jakylle was done and was leaving he warned Tom not to tell anyone about what happened. Tom still debated telling Mrs. Cole but realized that she wouldn’t believe him anyway so there was no point. 

Tom spent the next year working on getting control of his powers and getting stronger. And by age six Tom could control his powers and his emotions, but that still wasn’t enough to stop Dr. Jakyll who visited Tom at least once a month with no charge to Mrs. Cole. And each visit left Tom feeling even more alone but also fueled his anger. His anger towards the doctor, towards Mrs. Cole, and towards the world and the people living in it. The people who had left him to rot in the orphanage, but that rage also helped to fuel Tom’s power. 

And by the time Tom turned seven he was finally skilled and strong enough to persuade Dr. Jakyll. Tom spent the day before Dr. Jakyll’s visit trying to figure out the best way to punish him. Tom had studied up on the best ways to torture people and had learned that burying someone alive and drowning someone were the two easiest and most painful ways to kill someone. And while he was sure it wasn’t healthy or normal to want to watch the life leave someone and in an excruciatingly painful way. But Tom wasn’t normal or healthy anyway and wanted Dr. Jakyll to feel and suffer the same pain Tom had felt for the past two years.

So when Dr. Jakyll visited the next day Tom was ready. Dr. Jakyll had only just entered Tom’s room when he persuaded the doctor to go back and talk to Mrs. Cole and get permission to let Tom leave with him. Tom then led them both to the Thames River, where Tom persuaded Dr. Jakyll to drown himself. Tom could see the fear and panic rising up in the doctor as he tried helplessly to stop himself. Tom watched from shore and felt ecstasy and delight shoot through him when Dr. Jakyll finally stopped moving and floated lifelessly face down in the water.

That pleasure only increased when people started to notice the body and panic and chaos ensued. Tom also felt a spike of adrenaline course through him when he managed to fool the police and lie about what had happened. 

Later that night as Tom laid in bed long after the pleasure and adrenaline had subsided Tom reviewed his memories of the day with excitement, he couldn’t get the image of Dr. Jakyll’s fearful eyes and how he struggled against Tom’s powers only to eventually give in. He wanted another taste of the power and pleasure that came with it. 

And the way Mrs. Cole looked at Tom that night when the police officer had brought Tom back and told her what had happened. Now she not only looked at him with suspicion and hatred but also fear. Similar to the way Dr. Jakyll had looked at Tom when he finally realized how powerful Tom was like she was finally seeing Tom fully for the first time.

That was also when Tom started to use his powers on the other orphans more often to get what he wanted. But sometimes late at night Tom’s brain would betray him and Dr. Jakyll would visit Tom’s dreams and Tom was powerless to stop him. On those nights he would wake in a cold sweat and would spend all night at the window watching London’s factory district at work. Those nightmares made him even more desperate for power and control, especially over those around him. 

~0~o~0~

Tom was brought out of his memories by this new doctor.

“Now, Tom, let’s start wi-”

“No, doctor, you are not in charge here, I am. So we are going to do what I want,” The doctor was frozen in place as Tom forced his will onto the doctor and he saw fear rising up in the doctor the same way Dr. Jakyll had when he realized that Tom wasn’t a weak, helpless child. And was sure that fear was only amplified by the expression Tom was wearing, one that promised pain. 

______________________________________________________________________________

_ September 21, 1936…  _

_ Wool’s Orphanage…  _

_ London…  _

Hermione had been on her way to Tom’s room, holding a book that she couldn’t wait to show Tom. It was a book on mythical creatures called  **Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them** by someone named Newt Scamander. The book looked brand new and Hermione, who unsurprisingly knew the library inside and out, didn’t remember there being a book by this name. The book had been lying out on the table when she had gotten there, almost like someone had set it there and looked practically brand new, something unheard of in the orphanage. The book was a mystery, one that Hermione wanted to solve.

Hermione had been so focussed on the book that she had almost been plowed down by a man she had never seen, running towards her like he had just seen a boggart (and yes she had already started reading the book) Hermione couldn’t help but smile at the thought of any of the creatures in the book being real the idea was ridiculous. It took a minute for Hermione to realize that the man had been coming from the direction of Tom’s room. 

Hermione couldn’t get to Tom’s room fast enough after that, and she barged into her only friend’s room. She knew he hated it when she did that but Hermione was beyond the point of caring and once she realized he was okay she hugged him. His body was rigid just as it always was when she hugged him. The first time Hermione had hugged him he had frozen and when she realized he wasn’t hugging her she stopped and asked him what was wrong. She had been both horrified and worried when he had informed her that he had never been hugged she had resolved that she would hug him as often as he would allow. 

Hermione had fully intended to ask him about the man that had been coming from his room but before she could Tom saw the book that Hermione had honestly forgotten she had in her hand. 

They both went and sat on Tom’s bed and Hermione started explaining how she had found the book and started to tell him about some of what she had read. Hermione and Tom then spent the entire night reading the book then arguing about which animals could exist and which ones were just impossible and which ones would be cool pets.

______________________________________________________________________________

_ September 21, 1936…  _

_ Wool’s Orphanage…  _

_ London…  _

Outside the window, she stood and watched as Hermione hugged Tom before they started to pour over the book she had left for Hermione to find. It made her happy to see them together because it meant that Hermione was doing all the hard work for her without even realizing it. 

And as she made her way down the muddy street, she had to keep using her wand to keep herself clean, she was sometimes amazed by the way muggles managed to keep themselves clean though she still thought them far beneath her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I added Hermione in at the end because it's been a while since we've been in her POV plus I just needed to write a tiny bit of happy, naive and innocence that Hermione still possesses (even if she is very mature and intelligent) and I couldn't resist throwing in that book. 
> 
> Especially since this chapter was very draining to write because I had to not only look think about this from a little kids' point of view and how it would have affected normal children with a loving family. But this is something I feel like was, unfortunately, entirely plausible. An unwanted, unloved child, who lived in an orphanage and was clearly not well-liked and very solitary would be the exact target a predator of this time period, hell even now, and would definitely be at the biggest risk of being a target. I feel like this would also help make his Psychopathic/Sociopathic tendencies worse especially since it happened to Tom for a couple of years and children in that age group tend to copy what they see adults doing and act similarly. 
> 
> Anyway enough talk about that, so this will probably be the last time I post for a while because virtual school and remote learning are starting up and I will be extremely busy.   
> I didn't mean for this to get this long but thanks for reading.


	8. The Woman with a Plan come out of the Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally get to meet the mysterious woman who has been hiding in the shadows. Most of this is a flashback or background info for the story. The chapter has some information that will come into play later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovelies,  
> I'm finally back, yeah! Sorry, this has taken so long I was at an impasse between two roads that played a major part in the story later on. But at six this morning my brain woke me up and gave me the great idea to combine the two ideas into one.  
> Thanks to pattysue5, Ina504, and VSattler  
> And a special shout out to MelodySwanMills who comments on almost every chapter and whose asking about the mysterious lady helped push me in this direction.  
> And in other exciting news is that this story has gotten over a thousand views which makes me extremely happy!!  
> But anyway here's the chapter...  
> P.S. I didn't edit this at all I was too excited to post it.

Narcissa Merrythought watched the two children pour over the book she had left them from beneath a tree, the same tree where she had spent a majority of her days for the last five months. She hadn’t planned to spend all this extra time watching the orphanage, just like she hadn’t expected Hermione to appear wearing, of all things, the lost bracelet of Slytherin. 

But what did Narcissa truly expect; for everything to go as planned, she couldn’t help but smile at the thought. She had known what she was getting into when she had come up with this plan, she knew that time didn’t take too kindly to being rewritten. It was why when she had made this plan she had ruled out killing Tom and instead aimed for adopting him. Merlin knew what Lucius would have planned if she hadn’t helped. 

Narcissa couldn’t help but be reminded of the cold void in her heart, at the thought of her long-dead husband and son. Despite what most people thought about her husband, he did have a heart and loved her and Draco with all of it. Which was why she and Lucius had come up with this plan. They both knew that no matter what side won the war the Malfoys would lose, with the Dark Lord becoming more unstable every day they knew that if he won then the world was doomed. But if The Order of the Phoenix won then Lucius and Draco would both be sentenced to Azkaban at best and The Kiss at worst. They had planned to take Draco to the past with them, but in the end, all their planning was for naught. Because as the dust settled after The Battle of Hogwarts, both her husband and son were dead and the Golden Trio stood victorious. But instead of being happy, they were all gathered around their fallen friend and comrades. 

In the end, neither side had truly won, both sides losing friends and families, and the Wizarding population in Britain had been decimated. Seeing that made Narcissa even more determined to go back in time and fix things and with only a few adjustments to the plan she was ready. She was well aware that doing this meant that neither her husband nor son would exist but either way, they were gone but at least this way she could try to prevent the war in the first place. 

_ Narcissa’s plan had been somewhat simple, she planned to be the first person to introduce Tom to the wizarding world and she could hopefully gain some of his trust as a parental figure and teacher. But before she went and adopted him Narcissa wanted to already have roots and a life set up. So when she had arrived in the year 1931 she got to work creating a life for herself. She had nearly emptied out both the Black and Malfoy family vaults and brought it all with her and after opening an account at Gringotts she went in look for a job. She wanted to be as close to Hogwarts as possible for when Tom got there and as luck would have it the DADA teaching position was open and thanks to the first and second Wizarding Wars she was a damn good fighter. _

_ She changed her last name to Merrythought a Pureblood wizarding family that had all about died out and started making connections. And five years later she was finally ready to adopt Tom. Narcissa had decided to study Tom before adopting him so as to make gaining his trust easier when the time came, and as the second term finished up, and left most of her days open it seemed like the perfect time to start observing him.  _

_ The first day she went down to the orphanage she had been appalled for a number of different reasons. Now Narcissa was no expert in the Muggle world she had been there a number of times in her life and while she dreaded going the street and people had been relatively clean which was more than she expected from Muggles. But walking down the street towards the orphanage, she couldn’t help but remember all the things that she had been taught as a child about how filthy Muggles were. The streets and sidewalk were more dirt than cobblestone and the cobblestone that was there was cracked and uneven. And the sidewalk was covered in a brown muck, and for the first and only time in her life, she hoped to merlin, that it was mud. Narcissa knew for a fact that the “street” had horse defecation on it and the air was so pungent that you could taste the ammonia coming from the air. _

_ But what broke Narcissa’s heart was seeing children running around their clothes already falling apart, clothes coated in grim like a second skin and dirt all over their faces, all looking like they hadn’t eaten in days. Narcissa adored children and watching children go hungry or neglected not only broke her heart but also made her blood boil. Narcissa knew better than most what a gift children were and valued them beyond measure.  _

_ When she finally caught sight of the orphanage her heart plummeted right through her body and splattered on the ground beneath her feet. The orphanage was a run-down three-story building surrounded by walls so high you couldn’t even see the first story of the building. The orphanage had the same air about it that Azkaban did and Narcissa wondered whether the gate was there to keep people out or keep the orphans in.  _

_ And even though she had only watched the orphanage for only a day and had only caught sight of Tom once, she could see why he seemed so aloof, and cold, and held so much hatred for humanity.  _

_ Narcissa spent the next week watching the orphanage and with school out, she could watch from sunrise to sunset as she tried her best to watch and study Tom from a distance. She had also started bringing food for the other children she saw on the streets and by the end of the week, they had gotten used to her bringing food and eagerly awaited her arrival. Narcissa enjoyed bringing food for them and didn’t dread coming back every day, as much as she thought she would because of it. _

_ By the end of the first week, Narcissa had learned some valuable information about Tom. First, he didn’t tolerate stupidity from anybody, secondly, he was highly intelligent and anybody who couldn’t keep up with him didn’t deserve his time. Thirdly he had no empathy and thought he was superior to anyone and had no reservations about using threats and fear as a way to control people. Fourth that he had already discovered his magic and could do wandless magic with an efficiency that no adult could, not even Dumbledore.  _

_ Watching Tom had led her to two realizations, the first was that this was going to be a lot harder than she had originally thought and the second was, what truly scared her. If he was this powerful at this young with no knowledge of magic then how powerful was he truly before Harry Potter accidentally killed him and Narcissa wondered if he had lost a lot of his power when he lost his sanity.  _

_ Narcissa finally thought that she had enough information about this young Tom Riddle that she was ready to adopt him but found out that the orphans were going on their annual trip to the Seaside and that she would have to wait until they were back before she could inquire about adopting him. But even though the orphans were gone she still made daily trips to drop off food to the other children.  _

_ A couple of days after the orphans had gotten back from their trip Narcissa made her way inside the orphanage planning to adopt him but as she was making her way to Mrs. Cole’s office when she heard a noise coming from one of the rooms down the hall. Narcissa, letting her curiosity get the best of her, decided to go investigate but not before she cast a Notice-Me-Not charm on herself, and what she saw shocked her. _

_ She watched as Tom who was cloaked in the shadows as he waited for a woman, who Narcissa could only assume was Mrs. Cole, walked past where Tom was. After a few moments, Tom entered the room and Narcissa followed close behind him. From what Narcissa could tell it was a Muggle version of an infirmary, beds lined the room and all but one was devoid of a person.  _

_ Tom slowly walked up to the bed and Narcissa was shocked because it looked like Tom was slightly nervous, to people who hadn’t spent years in his presence he probably looked stone-cold but there was a hesitance in his steps. When Tom stepped aside allowing for a clear view of the person in the bed for the first time and Narcissa couldn’t help but let her mouth drop open. And even though no one could see her she still quickly closed her gaping mouth and tried to regain her elegance and air of superiority that had surrounded her for most of her life. _

_ But there laying on the bed, talking with a young Tom was a young Hermione Granger, she was smaller and Narcissa guessed that she was eight or nine, and her eyes didn’t look haunted. She had been too shocked to listen to what Tom and Hermione had been talking about but when Hermione moved her arm, Narcissa caught sight of something on her left wrist but when she finally got a good view of it she thought she would faint. There on the left wrist of a little girl who would grow up to be one of the biggest Gryffindors there ever were, was the Bracelet of Slytherin a lost artifact that had originally belonged to Salazar himself and was the second half of Slytherin’ legacy. There were all sorts of myths and legends that revolved around the Bracelet and Locket of Slytherin but it had been lost centuries ago. So how had a muggle-born gotten a hold of it? _

_ Narcissa realized that she needed more time to gather information about this new and unexpected piece on the chessboard. So she had retreated and gone back to her tree where she spent as much time as she could watching the duo. _

But that had been nearly five months ago and in those five months of watching the two of them, Narcissa had already come to think of them as her children. She also realized that Hermione had made Tom better than he had been before she had arrived.

Narcissa was neither blind nor naive enough to think that he had been reformed or anything. And he most certainly wasn’t perfect, not even close and he still used scare tactics and threats and even punishments when he felt he needed to, but Tom had spent more time with Hermione, interacting with a person his age, then he probably had in his whole life. And if she was anything like what Draco, Lucius, or any of the other Purebloods said she was, then she had a strong belief, passion, and a lot of empathy and compassion. And with any luck, some of it would rub off on Tom or at the very least she would be around to help keep him from going too far. 

Which was why Narcissa had decided to leave a book for the two of them as a sort of present even if they didn’t realize it yet and it was also her way of introducing them to the world of magic even if this was a minor thing. And looking up at the room she could see them both on Tom’s bed reading  _ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _ . 

Narcissa couldn’t help but look up at the night sky at the constellations that Lucius and Draco were named after that were side by side in the sky.

“We’re doing Lucius… We’re actually doing it.” She whispered up towards the sky a lone tear rolling down her normally rosy cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if the story goes the way my brain is thinking it will then we might finally be picking up steam and getting closer to Hogwarts finally! Sometimes my heart has ideas too, but hopefully not for the next chapter.   
> I might not be posting for a while since the school year is closing out and things are going to be hectic for a while and I am working on another story besides this one.  
> Please be safe, stay healthy, and keep reading! Please remember to vote and comment, they make my day and help encourage me to write.  
> Anyway, that's all till next time! Peace out!


	9. Fate, Adoption, and Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Granger family's thoughts about what has happened with Hermione. Fate gets a chance to give some insight, and the much-awaited adoption goes down.  
> *Things might get slightly confusing when talking about Fate and the parallel worlds/universes but I tried to use Spider-verse terminology since they seemed to explain parallel worlds in a pretty basic way.*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone, I am finally back.  
> I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who left a comment or voted. I really enjoyed reading them and they helped me get through this chapter. You guys have no idea how happy your comments made me. I started trying to reply to comments since I figured out you could do that.
> 
> This was one of the hardest chapters to write, especially the beginning of the chapter which took me two weeks to get past, but it was necessary to get us to where we needed to be and is one of the reasons why it has taken me this long to write it. The other reason is school was not only busy but also required me to write 8 different essays in the past week and a half and I just couldn't stand writing anything else or even looking at my computer for a couple of days after.  
> But to make up for me not posting for so long this chapter is about twice the length of my other chapters.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and that the wait was worth it.

September 19, 1988… 

The Granger’s House… 

Heathgate, Hampstead, England… 

The Grangers loved their daughter, of this there was no doubt. It was for this reason that they had sent her on the field trip to the Seaside, knowing that they weren’t going to see her again. They knew that something was going to happen to her on the field trip, just as they knew it was for the best but that didn’t stop their hearts from breaking after watching her get out of the car and storm off, angry about being forced to go. 

Watching their only daughter go, Jean Granger couldn’t stop the tears as they started to fall down her face. Richard Granger wasn’t any better off, and the only reason he hadn’t broken down yet was that his wife needed him to keep it together. But that didn’t stop him from getting out of bed long after his wife had gone to sleep and slipping outside where he could let his own tears fall without risk of his wife seeing. 

The Grangers had known for years that their time with their daughter was limited because Fate had needed her elsewhere, with someone who needed her more than they did. 

The Grangers had learned their daughter’s fate when Jean’s mother, Thalia, one of the best Seers in the world, had come to visit her pregnant daughter. It had been the first time she had visited them since finding out Jean was expecting. But upon laying a hand on Jean’s stomach where their child lay Thalia’s eyes turned completely white and as magic filled the room it caused her hair to start floating slightly. 

A few moments later Thalia’s eyes turned back to their normal color, the same color as her daughter’s, and the magic while still there was not as palpable as it had been moments before. Richard Granger had never seen a premonition happen, but he had read about them, and he probably would have asked all the questions that were spinning around in his head if it wasn’t for the somber expression on Thalia’s face and the despair he saw in her eyes. 

Thalia had explained that Fate needed their daughter to help fix an imbalance in the universe, something that had happened to a timeline in a parallel universe, that had created a paradox of massive proportions. That if left unchecked would not only destroy their timeline but every other world. 

Left with no other choice, they resigned themselves to the fact that they were going to lose their only daughter. A couple of months later on September 19, 1980, Hermione Jean Granger was born into the world. The Grangers tried to forget about the clock looming above them counting down the minutes until they lost their daughter. But it seemed to haunt them no matter where they went, or what they did, until one day the clock hit zero and Hermione came home talking about a trip her class was taking to the Seaside.

The morning of September 19 found the Granger house uncharacteristically still, even the birds perched on the roof weren’t chirping their usual morning tune. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Fate stood on her cloud, watching as the oblivious mortals went on about their lives almost all unaware of what awaited them. Fate paid them no mind though, instead choosing to pay attention to the select few whose fates actually mattered. 

Hermione Granger was an anomaly of time, space, and fate. She was the one constant in every single universe, and world. No matter what road people took or the outcomes of different events changed Hermione Granger was always born exactly the same way. She was always born September 19, always grew up to be a witch, always with the same facial features, and no matter what she always played a crucial role in major events. The only things that ever changed for her were when and where she was born and how she grew up. 

Fate had watched many different Hermione Grangers be born, grow up, and struggle through different things, but this Hermione Granger was different for a number of different reasons. Not only was she the only thing keeping the Tom Riddle, of this universe, somewhat stable but she was also from a completely different world herself. 

Fate rarely meddled with the mortals and the fates of said mortals, instead choosing to just let them and their choices led them to where they needed to go. It was too tiresome to try to help every single mortal in every single universe. But she had been given no choice in this situation seeing as to the fact that if one world was either destroyed or thrown off balance then it would domino effect to every other universe until nothing was left. 

And because of one mortal’s choice to meddle with the past throwing the balance off while also destroying the original Hermione of this universe before Fate could do anything, she had been left with no other choice but to meddle. Fate was sure that if either of her other sisters had been here they would have come up with a much better idea to restore the balance. But they had long ago left her to watch over the universe, leaving her all alone to watch over everything. 

Which was why Fate stood up on a cloud looking down at the mortals important enough to take up her time. The lonely young boy with everything a child could want but no one to play with. Narcissa, the time traveler who was responsible for the whole unbalance in the first place, the two young men, who have no idea about the tragedy that is to soon come. Tom and Hermione, the duo of friends that are the center of this of everything. And Fate’s favorite mortal, a little girl who can see everything, things that everyone but Fate is blind too. Every one of their fates is intertwined creating a unique bond that Fate had not seen in a very long time.

____________________________________________________________________________

Hermione and Tom had been in Tom’s room all afternoon. Hermione had been sitting next to the window, watching as the grey clouds floated by in a seemingly endless line blocking the sun. 

“It looks like it’s going to rain,” Hermione said glancing away from the window to look at Tom. Tom was on his bed reading a book with a snake curled up on his lap,

“It’s October in London, it always rains in October,” Tom replied without looking up from his book. “I thought you were smart enough to know that,” Hermione knew Tom was teasing her. Tom had started opening up to her more and one of the ways he did it was by teasing her, he teased her as a friend would, and not to be mean, or condescending way like he did to most people. But that didn’t stop her from sneering at him slightly,.

“I was only making an observation.” She replied, trying not to sound snarky and instead mask her emotions like Tom had been teaching her to. 

Tom had made a comment to her the prior week about how she always wore her emotions on her sleeve and how it was on becoming of one of his friends. At first, she had just ignored his comment, but as she should have already learned, ignoring Tom never ended well. He was just too good at reading people and knowing how to manipulate them. So when he said that there was no way she could do it anyway, since it would be too challenging for her, she couldn’t stop herself from rising to the challenge. She knew she had played right into his hands but that hadn’t stopped her. 

Tom looked up at Hermione, and snapped his book shut, waking up the snake, causing him to his at Tom, but Tom just ignored the snake instead focussing on Hermione.

“Your getting better,” He said as he started, “But you are still letting your emotions show on your face and it’s leaking into your voice.” Hermione turned her head back towards the window, not acknowledging what Tom had said.

“Now would you please stop looking out the window, you’ve been doing it all afternoon? Quite honestly it’s concerning, you won’t even read with me, you just keep staring out the window. I mean who cares if it rains or not,” As if on cure a raindrop hits the window, then another, and within a couple second the sky opens up and into a downpour. 

“Can’t you feel that Tom, something’s coming, something big I don’t know what it is but something is about to happen,” Hermione said while looking out the window down at the street. Streets that up until minutes ago had been crowded by people going on about their day, that had now been abandoned in favor of someplace warm and dry.

“Hermione I don’t feel anything, nothing is coming, are you sure you are feeling okay?”

Hermione didn’t reply instead focussing on the figure that had just appeared in the middle of the streets and was now walking up towards the orphanage. Hermione couldn’t see the person clearly because of the rain but watched as they walked towards the entrance of the orphanage. As if the person could feel Hermione’s watching them they paused and looked up towards the window were Hermione was from. Before they continued walking, Hermione watched for as long as she could until the figure was out of her line of sight. 

A few minutes after the woman had come inside, there was a knock on the door, and none other than Billy Stubbs walked in. He was wearing a smug smile on his face, that only grew when he said Mrs. Cole wanted to see them in her office.

Something was about to happen, Hermione was sure of it. And as she glanced up towards where Tom was on the bed watching her and gave him a small smile she hoped that whatever was about to happen was something good.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Narcissa walked up to the orphanage well aware of the eyes watching her as she did so. She couldn’t help but stop and look up at whoever was watching her, to her surprise she met Hermione’s scrutinizing gaze. After a moment she started walking towards the entrance again. 

Narcissa made it to Mrs. Cole’s office quickly, already knowing the way from her last visit to the orphanage. She had expected to run into some of the orphans on her way to the office but to her surprise the hallways of the orphanage were quiet. 

Narcissa knocked on the door, and when she heard Mrs. Cole say come in she opened the door.

“Hello, I’m Narcissa Merrythought,” Mrs. Cole looked Narcissa up and down assessing her. She seemed to take in her outfit and jewelry, before coming to the conclusion that Narcissa was wealthy. Mrs. Cole put smiled. “I’m Mrs. Cole, please have a seat. And tell me what brings you to our orphanage today?” She put her hand out towards Narcissa for a handshake. But Narcissa had no interest in shaking some muggle woman’s hand. It was one thing to make food for starving children it was another to actually have contact with one. 

When Narcissa made no move to shake Mrs. Cole’s hand she put it back down.

“I prefer to stand thank you. And I am here to adopt two children you have here by the names Tom Riddle and Hermione Granger. You see I recently found out that my dear cousin, who disappeared some years back, was pregnant at the time. I hired someone to find out what happened to her and the child. I learned that she ended up giving birth here, though she died soon after giving birth. But her son survived and grew up here, and from what I have been told he has a good friend, a girl who arrived a few months ago. I have come here to adopt them, for you see family means everything to me. So if you could go get them I will gladly be on my way.” 

Mrs. Cole looked shocked by the story Narcissa had painted for her. But sent a young boy who had been walking by to go grab Hermione and Tom and bring them here. The boy was much skinnier than a boy his age should be, but Narcissa tried not to think about it knowing there was nothing she could do for him.

Only after the boy had gone to fetch Hermione and Tom, did Mrs. Cole speak again “I should warn you Tom is a-- troubled boy. He has all the other children frightened of him and has caused a lot of problems.”

Narcissa’s eyes narrowed as what Mrs. Cole was saying registered with her. “I will make my own judgments about the boy and he clearly hasn’t scared all the children seeing as how he has a friend,” Narcissa replied cooly. Before Mrs. Cole could say anything else though the door opened. 

This was the first time Narcissa had been up close to either of them in months and Narcissa could see how closely they had bonded in this time. Tom was letting Hermione hold his hand, but the comfort that it brought not only effected Hermione but also brought comfort to Tom. If the tight grip Tom had on Hermione’s hand was any indication. Tom held her like he was scared she was going to disappear if he let go.

“What’s going on? Who are you?” Hermione was the first to voice her questions, which wasn’t a surprise to Narcissa who had not only heard meet the legendary Hermione Granger but heard the stories about her from first Draco, then Lucius and eventually all the Death Eaters Hermione had fought against. Though she had known that Draco had fancied her since his second year, which wasn’t a surprise with how much he talked about her. But her bravery and need to know everything was why Narcissa wasn’t the least bit surprised that Hermione had been the first one to speak up.

“Hello, I’m Narcissa Merrythought, I am here to adopt you. Your mom was a dear cousin of mine, I recently found out about you,” She said while looking at Tom.

Tom looks up at her and says, leaving no room for argument “I’m not leaving without Hermione.” 

“I wouldn’t expect you too, which is why I am here to adopt the both of you. Now we can’t dawdle, I have some important things to take care of. Do either of you want to go grab your things?”

“No, I’m fine,” Tom replied swiftly.

“I would like to yes. Tom can help me get it though.” Hermione said a little more hesitantly. Tom looked at her clearly not happy to have no choice in helping her get her stuff. But before Tom could say anything Hermione rushed off in the direction of her room, and Tom followed not far behind her.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Tom followed Hermione towards Room 27 for what was hopefully the last time. Tom was not sad to be leaving this place, not in the slightest. And everything about Narcissa from the way she talked, the clothes she wore, and how she held herself all spoke to her being wealthy, and of aristocratic birth. And if they were related than that meant that he too was an aristocrat by birth. So no Tom was not upset to be leaving this place behind in the least.

It was also why Tom felt no need to bring anything with him. All this stuff was second-hand garbage. By the time he reached Hermione she was almost done packing everything she wanted to take. Tom could understand why she might want to take some of this stuff with her since a lot of it had been hers before she had come to the orphanage. As she finished packing the last of her things she handed some of it to Tom and headed towards the entrance of the orphanage.

Narcissa was already waiting for them at the entrance and wasted no time taking their hands and leading them out of the orphanage and into the rain. She leads them into an alley near the orphanage and instructed them to close their eyes and hold onto her tightly. All of a sudden Tom felt an uncomfortable pull in the pit of his stomach, before falling to the ground and landing on the soft grass of a field in the countryside instead of the hard concrete roads of London.

As Tom regained his senses he heard the sound of retching and looked over at Hermione who had thrown up onto the grass in front of her. Narcissa helped her to her feet and held her arm as she stumbled a bit. “Don’t worry I have you. I still remember how I felt the first time I apparated.” 

Now that Tom didn’t feel sick, his mind had a million questions about what had just happened. Like how they had gotten from the city to the countryside, where were they, what just happened, etc. 

“Come along now children I will answer all your questions soon but for now let’s get you home, settled, and out of those horrible crimes against fashion clothes you have on.”

Tom stood up and looked around, he saw nothing but rolling green fields around for as far as he could see. But Narcissa led them to the top of the hill and Tom froze, a beautiful Manor lay in front of him, it looked like one of the old mansions that nobles had lived in hundreds of years ago. He looked over at Hermione who was also looking at him, and not even Tom could hide his awe at the building that lay in front of him. 

Narcissa watched them both with amusement, “Welcome to Merrythought Manor.” 

~0o0~0o0~0o0~

After Narcissa had given them a tour of the Manor she had shown them to their rooms. They each had there own rooms and bathrooms, and closets. Their rooms were separated by one room that was more a library than anything that had a door that connected to each of their rooms. The library room had bookshelves from floor to ceiling all around the room with one wall being a giant window. It was almost as though the walls were bookcases. The room had a fireplace, and fluffy rugs lining the floors. There were chairs, couches, and love seats, all of which were so soft and cushiony that it felt like the chairs were trying to give you a hug. Narcissa had explained that it was a mini library but that the Manor’s library was four times bigger.

The beds were in between two windows, they were big enough to let four grown men sleep comfortably with room in between each of them, and they were so soft it felt like you were sleeping on clouds. There wasn’t much else in the rooms besides that and Narcissa had told them they could furnish it however they wanted. Narcissa had left Hermione and Tom after telling them to get cleaned up and changed before coming down for dinner.

Hermione had just about died of shock when she had looked in her closet. There were hundreds of outfits, in hundreds of different styles, and fashions all fit for different occasions. She had no idea what outfit would be appropriate for dinner with Narcissa, and couldn’t help but wonder if Tom was running into a similar issue.

Eventually, Hermione decided on a light blue dress with a white cropped cardigan jacket and matching white gloves with a blue bow in her hair. She made her way down to the dining room to find Narcissa and Tom already waiting for her. 

Tom pulled out Hermione’s chair and sat down next to her. The food had already been put on the table. Hermione didn’t recognize any of the food, but she was hungry after not having eaten since early that morning. 

After dinner, Narcissa led Tom and Hermione into a room that reminded her of a foyer. And after they were all seated Narcissa started talking.

“I am sure that early raised some questions for the two of you, and as I said earlier I am here to answer all your questions. But first I will explain somethings that I am sure will help answer some questions that you probably didn’t even know to ask.”

“Have you had strange things happen to you, things that you can’t explain, particularly when you re feeling a strong emotion, like fear or anger?” She waited for a moment before continuing. “That’s because your both wizards and witches, you not only control magic but you are magic. And your not just any wizard or witch you are both Sacred 38, you are nobility, you are the best of the best.” The rest of the night was spent with Narcissa explaining the magical world to Tom and Hermione.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we get to meet someone who I think a lot of you have been waiting to for.
> 
> Anyway, that's it, for now, I have no idea how long it will be until the next chapter is up but I am hoping that because it's summer I will be able to get a little more writing done now but I make no promises.


	10. Diagon Alley Surprise and a Halloween Party Invite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a couple of weeks since Tom and Hermione have been taken from the orphanage and Narcissa decides to take Tom and Hermione to Diagon Alley, where they run into some unexpected people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, lovelies,  
> Happy Fourth of July! 
> 
> I want to thank everyone who left a comment, I think I responded to everyone's comments but even if I didn't respond I know I did read them all and I appreciated them all.
> 
> I have been very busy these past few weeks and that is only going to get worse in the coming weeks and months so it will probably be a little while till I post again, but do know I will post again when I get the chance. But on a very happy note, I now have a Beta!
> 
> Morsmordre11 has been helping me, she is super amazing, and I love working with her. She had been very instrumental in helping me write this chapter, and I would still probably be stuck writing if it wasn't for her. And I can't wait to keep working with her!
> 
> And now for the chapter...

In the two and a half weeks that Tom and Hermione had been living at the Manor, they had started to become accustomed to life as aristocratic wizards and witches. They had spent an enormous amount of time in the library reading everything they could about the brand new world they had found themselves in. And Narcissa had been there every step of the way helping teach them everything that couldn’t be found in books. Like how to behave and act in order to fit in with other children of the Sacred 38, to which they both belonged. 

Narcissa taught them about their traditions, heritage, and anything else that the other magical children grew up knowing. And while Tom had taken to the lessons like a duck to water, Hermione was a lot more hesitant. She struggled to accept what some of the lessons we’re teaching. Most of them went against everything Hermione’s parents had been taught her to believe. 

For instance, a lesson Narcissa had taught them only a couple days before was that while every witch or wizard was capable of magic, muggle-borns were beneath Purebloods and Halfbloods. Though Narcissa had stressed that it didn’t mean that they don’t deserve magic, it just meant that muggle-borns were peasants, while Purebloods were nobles. 

This went against Hermione’s believes that everyone was equal and capable of the same things, though everyone had different strengths and weaknesses. Her parents had taught her that it didn’t matter what lock of life you came from, or where you were from. Everyone was equal in the matter of deserving the freedom of choice, and the ability to move and change.

Tome had excepted that fact easily and he had given a small smile at the thought, though it wasn’t one of the smiles Hermione typically saw from Tom, no this one had sent shivers up her spine and caused the room to feel twenty degrees cooler than it had moments before. Hermione was happy that Tom not only trusted her but felt comfortable enough to let the mask he normally wore around people fall, but that had been one of the times Hermione had wished Tom had kept his mask on. 

Narcissa seemed to have also seen his cruel smirk because she then spent ten minutes lecturing about how muggle-borns while below them, were still important in making sure there was a balance in the magical world.

But now after two and a half weeks of lessons, Narcissa had decided that they were finally ready to go out into the magical world, and much to Hermione’s delight two days before Halloween. Back home Halloween had been her favorite holiday, even though she was typically not allowed to have candy or really anything with sugar, it had been the one day her parents had let her indulge in the sugary goodness. Though that wasn’t why it was her favorite holiday, no she loved Halloween for other reasons. 

Hermione always spent the week before Halloween getting ready with her parents. They would take her to a festival on the outskirts of town where three corn mazes would be set up and families could come to pick out pumpkins. The day after that they would all go costume shopping, and when they got back they would start putting the decorations up on the house. It was always a lot of fun, and they would joke around, and after trick or treating, they would come home and watch horror movies, like Beetlejuice or Ghostbusters, and Lost Boys. Hermione knew the Lost Boys wasn’t technically a horror movie but it had vampires so she counted it.

But one of the other reasons she loved Halloween was because of what had happened the prior year. 

_ Hermione had somehow gotten separated from her parents while she had been Trick or Treating. The streets had been flooded with children and parents, their costumes a kaleidoscope of colors. Hermione had looked at the street sign, only to find an unfamiliar name looking back at her. And as the situation started to sink in Hermione wanted to cry, she was lost in an unfamiliar place. She started to look around more frantically, as the crowds seemed to be closing in around her and the noise of the streets seemed to be getting louder. Hermione had read enough medical books to recognize that she was having a panic attack. Hermione ran into a small alley in between two houses and ended up on a mostly empty street.  _

_ The grass behind her was all muddy from when it had rained earlier in the day. Hermione sat down on the curb, not caring that it was wet and cold, and let her pillowcase full of candy drop to her side and she put her face in her hands. She was trying desperately not to cry knowing that it wouldn’t help her, but despite her attempts, tears still managed to escape and roll down her cheeks. She heard the sounds of a group of boys talking as they walked down the road towards her but she didn’t bother to look up. Not until she heard one of the boys say _

_ “Look, it’s the beaver faced, know-it-all freak.” Hermione looked up recognizing the voice and saw Liam and his friends looking down at her. This was just great, Hermione mused as if this night couldn’t get any worse.  _

_ Liam was the biggest bully in class, he had transferred into Hermione’s class sometime in March and had singled her out as an easy target. Since then he had taken to teasing her whenever he could, including in front of the teacher, who couldn’t do anything since his teasing didn’t qualify as bullying. Hermione’s normal response was choosing to ignore what they were saying. Although when she did respond, it was always with a quick and clever cut, that typically took them a few moments to recognize as an insult. But after months of dealing with Liam and his cronies, Hermione was starting to get sick of sitting still and pretending she didn’t hear Liam, even if it was the more mature thing to do.  _

_ “Go away Liam, I’m not in the mood to deal with you or your feeble attempts at witty insults.” Liam and his goons paused for a moment, as they tried to figure out what Hermione had said. Hermione got up off the curb and stood facing Liam. After a few moments, Liam’s face morphed from one of confusion to one of his signature smirks. Hermione had a feeling that while Liam didn’t fully know what she had said, he knew enough to figure out that whatever she had said was an insult. _

_ Hermione couldn’t help but smile as she said “You’re getting better at recognizing insults, I wonder which word confused you this time. Was it feeble? Maybe it was witty?” Hermione knew antagonizing Liam wasn’t the smartest move but she couldn’t help herself. _

_ “Well, at least I’m not some buck-toothed, bushy-haired, know-it-all freak.” Liam and his goons laughed at his insult. Hermione rolled her eyes, and replied, _

_ “Real original, Liam, is that the only insult you know. I mean if you are going to insult someone at least have the sense to make it good. Your parents must be so disappointed to have an unoriginal halfwit like you as their son. I feel sorry for them.” Hermione watched as Liam’s face contorted from laughing, to angry in a matter of seconds as what she said sunk it.  _

_ “You little snot-faced brat,” _

_ “That’s better, and slightly more original. And see, it wasn’t that hard.” Hermione was finally getting to release all the anger that had been building up over the past couple of months. _

_ Hermione had been so caught up in her anger that she hadn’t expected Liam to push her, causing her to fall into the mud. And all the anger she had been holding back rushed forwards, and she lost all control. The next thing she knew her hand was full of mud and she had walked up to Liam and smeared the mud onto his face. Hermione heard shrieks of terror come from the rest of Liam’s friends and saw that mud was flying at them from all directions. Hermione used this as a chance to make her exit and picked up her pillowcase full of candy that had been laying on the ground where she had left it untouched before she ran back through the alley she had come through and right into her parents. _

_ After they finally stopped hugging, her parents noticed the mud that coated Hermione and questioned her about it. She gave them a vague answer about falling into the mud, and they started home, where Hermione bathed and changed into her pajamas, Hermione and her parents spent the rest of the night on the couch watching Halloween movies until she fell asleep on her parent’s laps.  _

_ The next day at school Liam and his goons avoided Hermione like the plague and while Hermione would love to say that she felt bad for what had happened, the truth was she didn’t. Especially when it meant that one of the biggest bullies in the school was never going to be mean to anyone ever again. _

The memory of last Halloween still caused Hermione to smile, as she finished getting ready for the trip to Diagon Alley.

And as Hermione looked over at Tom and Narcissa she couldn’t help but feel excited as she wondered what this year’s celebration would bring.

~0o0~0o0~0o0~

Hermione was dressed in an outfit that she felt fit the mood of Halloween being only a couple of days away. Her spaghetti strap dress was orange, with a silk black ribbon attached as a belt, with an intricate bow on the front that had small diamonds on the edges of the bow. She had also put on a black cardigan that she desperately needed for an outing in London during October. Hermione wore black gloves, instead of her normal white ones, and they only went up to her wrist. And she had put an orange and black plaid headband in her hair. 

Her outfit screamed of wealth, something that typically annoyed Hermione but today she couldn’t bring herself to care. Once she was done dressing she rushed downstairs, and jumped over the last step, in what Narcissa would probably say was unbecoming of a proper young lady. When she reached the foyer she found Tom and Narcissa already waiting for her. Narcissa raised an eyebrow, in a move that Hermione had learned meant she disapproved of something, as Hermione gulped as much air as she could. Hermione was well aware that she was meant for a life of leisure, and that she got winded after even the shortest jogs. Hermione looked over towards Tom expecting the same type of disapproving glare but found that Tom wasn’t even paying attention to her. Instead, he wore a blank expression, and a far off look in his eyes seemingly lost in his thoughts. Something that Hermione had learned was almost never a good thing.

“Tom,” Hermione said softly not wanting to startle him while placing a hand on his shoulder. This seemed to do the trick because he blinked a few times before staring at her, but before he could say anything to her Narcissa started talking,

“Come along children, we want to get there before the midday rush” Narcissa walked over towards the fireplace, and for a few seconds Hermione was confused as to what she was doing until Tom asked,

“Are we going to Floo into Diagon Alley?”

Narcissa glanced at Tom and for a second it seemed like Narcissa had smiled at Tom’s question but when Hermione blinked it was gone leaving Hermione wondering if she had imagined it.

“Yes, Tom we are going to Floo into The Leaky Cauldron which leads to Diagon Alley.” And with that Narcissa grabs a handful of powder before throwing it into the fire and calling out "Diagon Alley" and walking into the now green flames. Hermione watches as Tom repeats what Narcissa did as soon as the flames are back to normal. Hermione takes a shaky breath before grabbing a handful of powder, throwing it in, and calling out "Diagon Alley," she closes her eyes and steps into the flames. 

When Hermione opens her eyes and takes in her surroundings she can’t help but feel underwhelmed at what she finds in front of her. The bar looks like a dingy and run down muggle bar for the most part, though the patrons were anything but muggle. Some wore crazy looking outfits with even crazier hats, like one patron with a Snitch circling his hat, and his robes looking like a rainbow puked on them. Other patrons, while dressed in traditional wizarding robes, were using magic. One was playing a game against another wizard that reminded Hermione of marbles in a way, and it took her a minute to realize it was a common wizarding game called Exploding Snap. Hermione watched as a witch changed a mouse wearing a bowtie and top hat into a cup of tea, and took a sip like it hadn’t been a rodent just seconds before.

But before Hermione had a chance to finish looking around Narcissa was already ushering them towards the back of the bar and towards a normal-looking brick wall. And before Tom and Hermione could even blink Narcissa had taken out her wand and tapped it on the wall in a specific pattern causing the bricks to start to move out of their way. Hermione struggled to keep her face even just like Narcissa had taught them. Hermione looked over at Tom and saw he was wearing his normal blank expression, the same one he used every time he was around the other orphans. She knew that to most people he was impossible to read, but Hermione had spent every day for the past five months with Tom and could see the way his eyes sparkled with life, and the way he clenched his hands behind his back, in a way that was completely unique to Tom, that showed that he was excited and happy by what he was witnessing. As they walked down the only street, they looked around at all the stores they rushed past. It was easy to tell what some of the stores sold like the Rosa Lee Teabag was obviously a tea shop or Magical Menagerie, which displayed animals in the shop window and cages in front of the store. Others were a little harder to figure out, like Flourish and Blotts, which didn’t have any obvious giveaways of what was sold there. 

Narcissa suddenly stopped walking which almost caused Hermione to run into her. They were standing in front of a store called Twilfitt and Tattings. The store looked a lot like a store they had passed a while back, Madam Malkin’s, except this one appeared to be posher based on how expensive the clothing looked. When they entered the store they were met by a secretary, in some kind of waiting room. With posh chairs, and love seats settled all around the room and tables full of magazines. The wall farthest from the entrance was made like a display case holding mannequins all wearing distinct outfits, but in between two of the mannequins right in the center of the wall, there was a red curtain. 

The secretary looked up when she heard us enter but before she could even open her mouth Narcissa had already started talking,

“I have an appointment for the measurements of my two children for their Halloween costumes, it should be under the name Merrythought,” The secretary jumped to her feet at the mention of Narcissa’s last name. Hermione could only assume that meant that the Merrythought name had power and sway in the magical world.

“Of course, right this way, madam.” The secretary led the trio through the waiting room and held the red curtain open for them to pass through. 

Hermione was amazed by what she saw. Pieces of fabric, measuring tapes, and scissors were flying around the room taking measurements of the other patrons and offering different options for fabrics. The room seemed to be set up like a clover with four circular areas, all with spots set up for the customers to stand.

“Ah, Narcissa, darling, it’s nice to see you here, it’s been too long,”

”Hello, Eveline what a nice surprise I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Something in Narcissa’s tone told Hermione that Narcissa thought it was anything but nice. “How are you? How’s young Abraxas?”

“He’s doing fine, he’s right over there,” The woman, Eveline, pointed over towards a pale boy, with hair so blonde it looked almost white, “he’s getting the final measurements for his Halloween costume.”

“What a funny coincidence that’s what we are here doing. There are two open spots over next to Abraxas, children why don’t you go over there and join him.” Tom and Hermione obediently went over to where the boy was standing.

Tom wasted no time introducing himself, “I’m Tom Riddle.” He stuck his hand out, and the boy took it before introducing himself, “And my name is Malfoy, Abraxas Malfoy.” Before turning his attention to Hermione, “And who is this lovely lady?”

“I’m Hermione Merrythought,”

Abraxas grabbed Hermione’s hand and kissed her knuckles, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sweet Hermione.” When Abraxas put her hand down, Hermione glanced over at Tom and saw a dark look on his face. Hermione walked over to Tom in an effort to keep him calm, and his murderous tendencies in check. A few seconds later a measuring tape and notepad flew over and started writing, it wasn’t long until they were finished. Narcissa had chosen their costumes for them and was keeping it a secret so they didn’t have to spend time looking at fabrics or anything else. Once the last measuring tape had flown away they headed back towards their awaiting guardians.

As they walked out of Twilfitt and Tattings, Lady Malfoy started talking, “Narcissa has informed me that this is your first time at Diagon Alley. My son has been coming here since he was old enough to walk, and I’m sure he would love to show you two around while Narcissa and I talk?” It was phrased like a request but was obviously an order. 

It hadn’t been hard to figure out that Eveline was the matriarch of the Malfoy family, and what her title was, once Abraxas introduced himself. Narcissa had told them all about the Sacred thirty-eight and the families that reside in it. The Malfoys were not only in it but they basically run it. They are one of, if not the, oldest family, and by far the wealthiest, they also have the greatest reach, conducting business in America, Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand. It was fascinating how powerful and well connected one family could be.

“Yes, of course, mother,” Abraxas replied almost robotically. With her son’s response, Lady Malfoy started down the street with Narcissa, children forgotten. 

The three of them started on their way down the street at a much slower pace, and though Tom had never been to Diagon Alley before today, he took the lead. Hermione walked next to Abraxas and asked him questions. 

They spent over an hour walking around Diagon Alley going in and out of shops as Hermione asked Abraxas questions and Abraxas answered them with such rigid, and unfailing politeness, it was like talking to a robot.

“So Abraxas what do you do for fun?”

“I like to fly on my broom or ride on my Abraxan, I also like to-”

Before he could finish Tom had pulled Hermione to his side, and away from Abraxas as they walked down the street of Diagon Alley. Hermione pulled away from Tom and leveled a glare at him for doing something so rude, before pushing out of his reach completely and walking next to Abraxas. 

“Sorry about Tom, he isn’t always fond of new people, but I assure you that it is nothing personal.” Hermione apologized to Abraxas.

“I assure you, I can speak for myself, and tell you if it is indeed personal or not and do not require for Hermione to speak on my behalf.”

“Tom stop being rude. Abraxas has done nothing to deserve your attitude.”

“How do you know he hasn’t done anything to offend me?”

“Because Tom, I’ve be-” Hermione’s words died on her lips as she caught sight of a store, that looked like a golden light was shining down on it. “Is that a bookstore? Tom look,” Hermione pointed at the bookstore, their argument forgotten, “it’s a bookstore! Come on! Let’s go check it out!”

All of a sudden Abraxas burst out laughing, causing Hermione and Tom to look at him. “You two are the most interesting people I’ve met in a long time. Like just now, you two had been in the middle of an argument only for it to be forgotten two seconds later. Tom, you clearly don’t like me, and you don’t try to hide it. And Hermione, you wear your feelings on your sleeve, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody do. I’m so used to people pretending to like me and going along with everything I do, but you two don’t. It’s a nice change of pace.” Abraxas is still smiling when he says,

“Now let’s go check out the bookstore. I personally like Adalbert Waffling and his books on Magical Theory.”

“Personally I prefer to read Hogwarts: A History, but I do like his theory that magic is a living thing and that it makes up the world around us,” Hermione said.

Tom scoffed “Please, it’s obvious that magic is a living thing, it amazes me, that some people are too dumb to realize that on their own.”

They walked around the store arguing what they thought and walked out carrying as many books as they could. 

“I was meaning to ask if you two want to come to the Halloween party that is being thrown at my Manor. I can have my mother send you a formal invitation if you want.”

“Before I answer I need you to answer a very important question. Is it true that Malfoy Manor has the biggest collection of books in Britain?”

Abraxas laughed as he answered, “Yes, Hermione it is true.”

“Then that would be great Abraxas, We would love to go to the party.”

They made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, where they met back up with Lady Malfoy and Narcissa. As Narcissa, then Tom made their way through the Floo, Hermione looked back at Abraxas and gave him a smile and small wave before going through. 

As Hermione got ready for bed she had no idea how she was supposed to fall asleep. She was giddy, today had gone better than she ever could have imagined. And though it was still early in their relationship, Hermione felt that Abraxas was going to fit right in with Tom and her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I have very loosely, and I mean VERY loosely planned out what is going to happen in Tom and Hermione's first year, and how many chapters until we get to Hogwarts, but I tend to write what comes to me, and even if I plan something out I don't always stick to it.
> 
> Comments encourage me to write and I love to know what you guys think!
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter, and again I would love to thank my Beta, Morsmordre11, for all her help in getting this chapter written and edited.
> 
> Anyway, that's all for now, I'll see you guys next chapter for the Halloween party!


	11. The Monsters of November Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Malfoy's Halloween Ball, (Why A Ball? Because the Malfoys would never lower themselves to throwing a party. Parties are for the low class, and riffraff.) The chapter focuses a lot more on the kids, more than anything since the adults really only go and get drunk. But you get to see Tom being Tom, and showing that he is superior to everyone else. There is a lot of wandless magic, and Slytherin's Bracelet and Slytherin's Locket finally come into play, albeit it only a little bit. 
> 
> Towards the end, there is a very dark and morbid part, that has child abuse, among other things and so just to be safe I am warning you now, and I don't know what type of warning there should be for it. But the chapter got its name because of the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it has taken me so long to get this out, I have been extremely busy as of late. My family is in the process of moving, and my school has just started up again, along with other things. I wish I could tell you that I will get chapter 12 out soon but I can't.  
> In addition to that, I also have some very important tests coming up, and my sports team is going to be starting up again. 
> 
> But thank you to my amazing Beta, morsmordre11. Who not only helped me come up with the costumes that Abraxas, Narcissa, Tom, and Hermione are wearing; but also proofread the chapter. You guys have no idea just how awesome she is.
> 
> Heads up as I put in the chapter summary there are some very dark things at the end of the chapter. And I put an explanation of why I did this at the bottom of the endnote just in case you are curious.

Tom woke up with a gasp and covered in a thin layer of sweat that coated his pasty skin. It took Tom a second to get his bearings and realize that it had only been a nightmare, and none of it was real. 

Tom was no stranger to nightmares and was just happy to not have wet the bed like he used to. When Tom was younger, he would wake up from nightmares having lost control of his bladder, and Tom absolutely hated that loss of control. Though it didn’t take long for Tom to notice the pattern, that both the nightmares and the bedwetting were the worst right after a “visit” from Dr. Jakyll, and that realization just made Tom hate him even more.

After Tom had drowned Dr. Jakyll, the nightmares let up and he had assumed that the nightmares had died with the Doctor. But about a week after his death, the nightmares had begun again. They were slightly different from the nightmares he was used to having, but they were far less common now, and Tom was finally able to stand up for himself and stop nightmare Jakyll from touching him.

But this nightmare had been very different from every other nightmare he had ever had, and that was why even though he knew it was a dream he was still shaking.

Tom had woken up so early that not even the house-elves were awake yet and that gave the air a stillness to it, almost as if the house itself was asleep. And he knew Narcissa would be sleeping off the effect of all the Fairy Wine she had drunk last night. This gave him plenty of time to not only think about what had happened last night at the Malfoy’s Halloween Ball but also the nightmare that had awoken him.

0~***~***~***~***~***~0

Tom had read that the Malfoys had the biggest Manor in all of wizarding Britain, and were one of the richest families in the world, but that had never truly registered with Tom until he had seen Malfoy Manor himself. 

Narcissa had been training them for weeks to be able to navigate Pureblood society and though she hadn’t come out and said it, he knew that this was going to be a test of all that they had been taught. 

Narcissa led them towards the entrance of the Manor as her gown, made up of all living flowers, left petals trailing behind her, and Tom couldn’t help but admire her. The way she held herself spoke to an aristocratic upbringing, and the way she commanded all the attention in the room without even batting an eye was something he deeply respected. 

As they made their way to the ballroom, Tom took in the hallways that seemed to have a golden glow about them, and though he was impressed, he took care to make sure it wouldn’t show on his face. He glanced at Hermione and saw she wasn’t having as much luck and was blatantly looking around in awe. He quickly nudged her, to get her attention and then quickly motioned to her face and then his, trying to silently communicate what she was doing wrong. Luckily she seemed to pick up on it, and she schooled her facial features into an almost bored look. And not a moment too soon, because they reached the end of the hallway and were now standing in front of three people who could only be the hosts of the ball. Abraxas and his father seemed to share many of the same features, with the same straight platinum blonde hair and grey eyes. 

The Malfoy family had all coordinated their outfits much like Narcissa, Hermione, and him had done. It wasn’t hard to figure out what the costumes were after Tom had realized that Abraxas had dressed as Lancelot. With Lord Malfoy dressed as King Arthur, and his wife dressed as Guinevere. It was clear that they had intended for it to be a display of power, showing that they ruled the ball, but Tom had to wonder if they even knew what the story was about. With Guinevere falling in love with another, Lancelot betraying Arthur, and the entire mess that follows. 

In Tom’s eyes, their costume had nothing on Hermione’s, Narcissa's, and his. They had all matched each other’s Greek God theme perfectly, and all fit with their personalities. Narcissa was dressed up as Gaia, the mother of the Gods and personification of life, and loved her children and would do anything to help and protect them. Her outfit was made out of living plants and flowers that were constantly moving, and in her hair, she had a flower crown that while simple was also elegant. 

He himself was dressed as Ares, god of war, violence, murder, and bloodlust, all of which were things Tom was very fond of. Tom was wearing a traditional Spartan warriors garb and a sword in the holster on his side. They had also temporarily charmed his eyes a crimson red to match his costume.

Then there was dear, sweet Hermione who had dressed up as Athena, most commonly thought of as the goddess of wisdom, which was no doubt what Hermione had been thinking when picking out her costume. But when Tom saw it he couldn’t help but think of how she was also the goddess of war but focussed more on strategy and civility than anything. But still had a bloodthirsty side, and Tom couldn’t help but wonder when he would see that side of Hermione that he knew she tried to keep buried away and hidden. Hermione was wearing a white toga, that had a couple of different layers of cloth, and when she walked, it flowed with her. Narcissa had also charmed Hermione’s eyes grey, which changed colors ever so slightly depending on her mood. If she was upset her eyes got darker and looked like a storm if she was happy they changed to a shiny silver.

“Welcome, Lady Merrythought, we are so happy to have you here.” Lord Malfoy greeted them.

“And we are happy to be here, may I formally introduce my two children, Tom Riddle,” Tom gave a small but respectful bow, just as Narcissa had instructed them to, and held it for a second. “And Hermione Merrythought,” Hermione curtsied, “They are around Abraxas’s age, and will be starting Hogwarts with him.”

“It was a pleasure meeting you two, I hope you enjoy the ball.” As Narcissa led them away she whispered in a tone so low only they would hear, “Good job, you both did great.” Before raising her voice back to normal, “I’m going to go get something to drink why don’t you two go mingle, and talk.” And with that Narcissa started over toward the bar, where other adults were milling around.

They walked around for a couple of minutes, not really talking but just observing the other people in attendance. But it didn’t take long before two men approached Hermione and Tom. They went to introduce themselves but got interrupted by one of the men as he started talking.

“That’s Slytherin’s locket and that’s Slytherin’s bracelet.” At the man’s words, the people around stopped their conversions and turned to look at them.

“Now, now, Horace, they are just children,” The man with auburn hair, with a single streak of white hair started. But the man named Horace interrupted again.

“But Albus, you know as well as I what having the two here together means-” There seemed to be more going on in the conversation between the two men other than what was being said.

“Horace enough.” Hermione and Tom turned around to find Narcissa coming towards them, with a stern expression on her face. The crowd which had now gone silent and had turned to look at them parted like the Red Sea at the sound of Narcissa’s voice. 

Once Narcissa reached them she smiled down at Tom and Hermione, “Children I would like you to meet two of my esteemed colleagues, and two of the finest Hogwarts professors. Albus Dumbledore, head of Gryffindor house and the professor for Transfiguration,” She pointed towards the man with auburn hair before pointing towards the man who had not even introduced himself “And Horace Slughorn, head of Slytherin, and the potions master.”

“Gentlemen, this is Tom Riddle and Hermione Merrythought.”

Slughorn spoke up again, “These are your two kids, that means you must have seen what they are wearing-”

“Children why don’t you go say hello to Abraxas. I’m sure he will be delighted to see you again.” Narcissa’s stern voice was back again, and the children said their goodbyes determined to get out of the blast zone before Narcissa lost her temper. 

They had learned early on that she had two types of anger, the one where she yelled and lost her shite, and the deathly cold one, which was even more terrifying. It took a lot to get her angry, and the one where she yelled actually took more effort to bring out. But the icy one was terrifying because it meant that she was plotting a way to either hex someone or something else just as bad.

“It was a pleasure meeting you two, I can’t wait to have you in class in a few years,” Dumbledore said, a twinkle in his eyes, though they barely paid him any attention instead focusing on disappearing into the crowd and getting as far from their adoptive mother as possible. 

It wasn’t hard to find Abraxas, since his distinct features stood out in the crowd, once he spotted them, a small smile graced his lips for a brief second before disappearing again leaving behind a cold-looking face again. 

“Please follow me.” His voice was as cold as ice, and it sounded like a trained response. He led them out of the ballroom and through a side door, into another hallway. Abraxas kept looking behind them at the door and after a few moments, he broke into a smile. 

“It’s great to see you guys again.”

“Thanks for the invitation Abraxas, and your costume is very interesting.”

He looked down at his costume and sighed, as they walked, “Yeah the costume wasn’t my idea. I’m pretty sure neither of my parents have ever even read the story, they only chose it because the name has “king” in it. But your costumes are really good.”

“By the way where are we going Abraxas, the ball is back there?”

“Oh dear sweet Athena, that stuffy ball is for the adults, us kids have something else planned and you two were the last ones I needed to find so that our party can begin.” Abraxas had a playful smile on his face when he talked. 

They reached a door at the end of the hall, and Abraxas pushed open two elegant looking doors revealing a grand room decorated with magical Halloween decorations. There was a small orchestra in the corner of the room getting warmed up, and a long table. Some of the tables had food, but most of it was covered with different types of desserts and candies. The middle of the room was empty and clearly meant for dancing.

In the room, about thirty to forty other kids milled about in costumes talking, but the room had gone silent and all of them had turned their heads to look at Abraxas as he led two new kids into the room and closed the door behind him.

“Everyone, this is Tom Riddle and Hermione Merrythought.”

“But Lady Merrythought doesn’t have kids.”

“And why have we never met them before?”

Abraxas looked unsure as to how to answer, so Tom spoke up. “We are not Lady Merrythought’ kids, just her wards.”

A girl with straight dirty blonde hair stepped forward, she was wearing a princess dress, and Tom saw Hermione roll her eyes at the unoriginality of it. And though Tom would never show his disdain for the outfit he had to agree with Hermione, the outfit was tacky. The girl assessed Tom, and Hermione, before saying anything. “If she adopted you do you even have magic?” The girl's voice was high pitched and irritating.

“We could ask the same to you?” Hermione snapped back, something that didn’t surprise Tom in the least, but the girl looked taken aback by it. Like it was the first time it had ever happened, but as he looked around the room he noticed that a majority of the room was male, so chances were it probably was the first time someone had said something back to her. Tom knew that the girl came from money like all the other kids in the room, and though he found her annoying he was not willing to burn a possible bridge that could benefit him one day. So he mustered up all his patience and tried to be polite.

“Of course we have magic, and we can perform it at will.”

“At will,” She scoffed at him, “Yeah right, most adults can’t even do it, so there’s no way you will be able to.”

“Are you calling us liars?” Hermione shot back. 

“Yeah, I am.”

“Would you like a demonstration of our wandless magic?” Tom asked, making sure everyone was looking at them. Once he was sure that everyone was, he looked at Hermione and gave her a little nod. The grin that spread over her face was one that Tom could recognize having worn it often. It was a grin that promised bloodshed, though it could be emotional bloodshed or physical or even both.

Hermione waved her hand and all the windows flew open before she lifted the girl off of the ground and moved her through the windows and outside before dropping her into the dirt completely ruining her costume.

Hermione turned back towards all the other kids in the room “Anyone else thinks we don’t have magic or we are lying?” No one said anything and Tom and Abraxas walked over towards Hermione, and as everybody went back to talking until the music started up. 

“Hey, The Goblin Oogie Boogie is my favorite song, Hermione come dance with me,” Abraxas said. 

Abraxas grabbed Hermione’s hand and led her out onto the dance floor. He twirled her around and led her through the dance. Until the orchestra started playing Hot Feet which was when the roles reversed and Hermione led Abraxas through a dance. Tom watched Hermione and Abraxas dance, while he socialized with the other kids. When he saw the rude girl in the princess dress by herself in a corner a brilliant idea popped into Tom’s mind. 

Tom had big plans for the future and having a group of allies with power and wealth backing him would definitely help. 

A couple of songs after that Tom cut in and started dancing with Hermione before Abraxas cut in again. This pattern continued for the rest of the night until Hermione managed to maneuver so that Tom and Abraxas ended up stuck dancing with each other giving her a chance to drink some butterbeer, and eat some candy.

But the rest of the night was spent dancing, and laughing with each other. Until Narcissa and the other parents came in to find their kids and head home, most of them were so drunk it was amazing that they were able to walk.

Tom had been exhausted and had fallen asleep almost as soon as his head hit the bed, and Tom couldn’t have been happier to drift off to the realm of dreams, though that happiness soon disappeared.

0~***~***~***~***~***~0

The nightmare had started off as a dream, with Narcissa, Hermione, and himself walking down a street in muggle London. Then Narcissa had been shot and killed, and Mrs. Cole had appeared and dragged both Tom and Hermione back to the orphanage, where Dr. Jakyll was waiting in Room #27.

Dr. Jakyll grabbed Hermione and though Tom tried he was helpless to do anything but sit on the bed and watch as Dr. Jakyll used Hermione, just like he used Tom. Before he threw her against the wall causing her to cry out and fall to the floor. He started kicking, and beating her, and no matter how much Tom struggled he couldn’t move or use his magic to get Jakyll to stop. 

Eventually, Hermione stopped yelling out in pain, and Dr. Jakyll only stopped once Hermione had gone completely still. Dr. Jakyll then turned his sights on Tom as he left her limp and broken body lying in the middle of the floor with her blood soaking through. All the while Tom was still helpless to do anything to help Hermione or himself. And as Dr. Jakyll came towards Tom, his body started to decay, with his skin turning a horrible gray color, his eyes turned yellow, and in some places, the skin was missing allowing Tom to see the decaying muscles and bones. There was part of his skull missing allowing Tom to see his brain, which had worms eating it. 

When Dr. Jakyll opened his mouth, thousands of bugs came crawling out, there were cockroaches, beetles, spiders, and even toads, before letting out a swarm of flies, all heading towards Hermione and starting to eat her lifeless body.

“Tsk, Tsk, Tommy boy, did you really think you deserved to be happy. Did you really think you would ever be more than some pathetic street orphan, who should have never been born?” He let out a chuckle that sounded more like an inhumane groan, “You should have been happy that I was willing to give you my attention, instead of sending you off to the asylum.” He was still walking over to Tom and was close enough to smell the putrid smell of death that was coming off of him in waves, along with the lingering smell of water from when he had died. “But no, you believed yourself to be worth something,” What was left of the skin on Dr. Jakyll’s face was now changing colors and Tom knew that if he had looked normal then his face would be red with anger. “Well, guess what Tommy boy, you are not important or special, and this,” He gestured towards what was left of Hermione’s body, “is what happens when you forget that you have and always will be nothing but a dirt smear on society.” Tom went to move towards Hermione as the last of her body was starting to decay, but was stopped when Dr. Jakyll grabbed his arm pushing Tom onto his bed, as he started unbuttoning Tom’s pants. “You are nothing special, and have no power, and guess what, magic is not real, and you are just a brat. So just lay there like a good boy, and let me finish.”

0~***~***~***~***~***~0

Even just thinking about the nightmare caused Tom to start shaking and the need to go check on Hermione was hounding him. Though he did try to fight the urge, eventually his need to make sure won out. Tom quietly slipped inside to see her sleeping on her bed. The only light came from her bracelet as it reflected the early morning sunlight that had managed to slip through the curtains and into her room.

Tom couldn’t help but glance at the matching locket that hung around his neck, and that he would never take off. Tom wondered exactly how the bracelet and the locket were connected, and how it would affect him in the future. 

As Tom watched Hermione sleep he couldn’t help but relax in her presence. He also couldn’t help but wonder when he had started to fear for someone else other than himself, and wondered if this is what caring for someone else was like. And though he knew it was a weakness he would need to get rid of at some point he still couldn’t bring himself to think about that at that moment. 

_Well_ , Tom mused still staring at a sleeping Hermione, _at least one of us is sleeping peacefully._ Before he slipped back out of her room and went back to his own to find a new book to read.

Unbeknownst to Tom though Hermione was not sleeping peacefully like he believed nor had she been lucky enough to escape the nightmare realm, like Tom had. Instead, she was stuck in her own nightmare, where her parents were the stars. This was Hermione’s first Halloween without her parents and though she thought she would be fine, she was determined to enjoy her favorite holiday. And she had managed to get through the day by pushing all thoughts and feelings of her parents into the recesses of her mind. Unfortunately when she was sleeping all those memories and feelings couldn’t be contained and had come out to haunt her much like the demons believed to roam free Halloween night.

It wasn’t even ten in the morning on the first day of November yet it was clearly shaping up to be one hell of a month though it was anyone’s guess as to whether that was a good thing or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
> 
> Here's the link for the Goblin Oogie Boogie that I mentioned in the story,  
> https://youtu.be/IDpBwgFxAHc  
> This is from Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King, I love Scooby-Doo, but I had never intended to use this song, at the time I was writing this the song just popped in my head and I hadn't even realized it was from Scooby-Doo. It just felt right and was a song I could imagine kids in the 1930s might have listened to and danced to since there is some jazz in there. And there are Goblins in the Wizarding World, so it wouldn't be that big a leap that there would be a song about them. 
> 
> And the link for the other Halloween songs I imagined being played and that I listened to while I was writing  
> https://youtu.be/Q2uRvudYppY
> 
> Oh god, both this note and the one at the beginning got way longer than I ever meant for them to get. Sorry, anyway I really do hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	12. Tom's First Yule (Christmas) Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what the title says.  
> P.S. This chapter has not been proofed so all mistakes are mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!  
> I'm back, baby! ;)  
> I never meant for it to take me this long to post but life has been really hectic lately and isn't going to calm down for a while. Originally this chapter had consisted of Christmas and Tom's birthday but I split it in two because I really wanted to post on Nov. 8 and didn't have enough time to finish the Sorting Hat chapter I had been planning so instead Nov 8 with be the second part of this chapter.  
> Also, I now have a rough idea of how 1 year is going to go down for our characters so that's good news.  
> Anyway, that's all from me see you Nov 8, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.   
> And let me know what you think of the chapter.

Tom woke up the morning of December 25 bleary-eyed, and very much annoyed. All he wanted was to go to bed and ignore the day, but his body had betrayed him and had woken him up. He threw the blanket off and across the bed, probably with more force than needed, and stalked towards the bathroom. 

As his bare feet touched the ice-cold stone floor, his body shook as goosebumps traveled across his skin. The room was frigid and bit at his skin. To most people, the cold was an inconvenience needing to be chased away with fire, wool coats, and thick blankets. But to Tom the cold was refreshing, and invigorating, Tom would invite Jack Frost into his room every day if he could. 

After Tom had finished relieving himself, he washed his hands, something that in the orphanage was considered a luxury, and looked in the mirror at his tousled hair, that was sticking out in every direction and grabbed a comb. Tom could never stand to let his hair or really any part of himself be anything less than acceptable. His hair always combed into a suitable style and his clothes meticulously put on without a single wrinkle in sight. Tom had always loathed the kids at the orphanage for this reason. They never bothered to comb their hair or stay clean, not even when potential parents came in looking for some child to adopt and take home. 

In particular, there was a boy with bright green eyes, round glasses, and shaggy brown hair that went in every direction. Tom was sure that the boy had never seen a comb in his life. Then one day a man with the initials S.B, and grey eyes and curly mane of black hair, that reminded Tom of Hermione’s mane of golden looking curls, came in looking saying he had been over England looking for a boy with the initials H.P. When he saw the boy it had been the first time Tom had seen a grown man cry, the second time being a few months later with Dr. Jakyll. But needless to say, that was the last time Tom ever saw the boy with shaggy brown hair. 

The story was repeated over again and again, with other children over the years. Tom was hard-pressed to say that he was envious, after all, he had never truly wanted a family, but he still thought that out of all the kids there, he would be an ideal child. He was smart, well-mannered, groomed, polite, and seemed well behaved to most adults. So watching kids who were less than him in every way get picked instead of him was nothing less than infuriating on the best days, and on the worst made him murderous. 

Tom put the comb down onto the bathroom counter and walked back past the bed and towards the drape covered windows. He pulled back the heavy fabric expecting to be blinded by the sun but instead found the window fogged up. Tom took his hand and wiped the water off the window just enough for him to see outside. The sky was covered in clouds that were slightly darker than the white that coated the ground outside his room. Apparently, it had snowed through the night, giving them a “white Christmas” and even now the snow seemed to fall in a snow flurry. 

Tom had always despised this time of year. It was bad enough that it was Christmas, but to make it worse it was also his birthday, granted not the same day, but still close enough to lump the two days together. At the orphanage neither was a reason to be happy. Christmas was just another reason for Mrs. Cole to take them to church, and for her to take Tom to the nuns and priests, where they tried to cleanse his soul of the devil. When that inevitably failed, it was just another reason for  _ good doctor _ Jakyll to pay him a visit. And his birthday was just a reminder that he had been born into a world that didn’t want him and a drain on society. 

Tom shook his head trying to get himself to focus, he had no idea why he couldn’t get his head away from the orphanage, after all, he was nowhere near the awful place. Tom realized he was still staring out the window at the snow, and walked back towards his bed when his door flew open and Hermione came bounding into his room tackling Tom onto the bed. 

Tom glanced towards Hermione and she just smiled sheepishly at him, a blush starting to creep across her face turning it bright red but before it finished she turned away from him. Hermione rolled off of Tom before helping him up off the bed. Only to wrap her arms around him once he was on his feet. 

Tom was still always slightly surprised when she hugged him, still not used to the physical form used to convey comfort and familiarity, w was known as hugging. It was only once she had stopped hugging him and stepped back that he noticed the way she was dressed. Sure she was in her typical nightgown but she was also wearing the winter coat she used when they went out and played in the snow. 

Hermione had complained to him many times about how cold his room was, even when he had a fire burning in the fireplace. When Hermione had realized that no matter how much she tried she couldn’t get the room to become warmer her curiosity kicked in and she started experimenting. But after a few days of mild experiments, that yielded nothing she started to grow frustrated, and thanks to a seemingly innocent comment Narcissa had made to her- about magic in a house like this being fickle and telling Hermione that it was alright that she couldn’t figure it out because she was still too young and inexperienced with magic still -Hermione had taken it as a challenge, and was determined to figure out what was causing the room’s chill. And after weeks of research and combing through the libraries, she came to the conclusion that it wasn’t the room itself that was causing the cold, but instead, it was just Tom’s magic. When Hermione had announced that at dinner one night in front of Narcissa and she hadn’t corrected Hermione or told her she was wrong Hermione had smiled so brightly that Tom was sure the house elves could see it from across the Manor. Once Hermione had gone back to eating, Tom glanced at Narcissa only to find her smiling, and suddenly that seemingly innocent comment became something much more like a seed that had been planted. Tom smirked at that thought, you could never trust a snake, even one like Narcissa for they would always manipulate a situation, it was just who they were.

Tom was brought out of the maze that was his mind only to find two fingers snapping in front of his face, “Welcome back Tom, glad you could join me in the real world again,” Hermione said lightly, clearly teasing him. 

When he ignored her, he saw the smile drop off her face and she opened her mouth probably intending to question him about his strange behavior. When a house-elf popped in, “Mistress, sents Dotty, to brings yous to hers.” Tom jumped off the bed and grabbed one of Dotty’s hands, and Hermione joined him getting up from the bed with a sigh. 

The next thing he knew they were standing in the middle of the blue room in front of Narcissa. Tom still had no idea though as to why it was called the blue room since there was not a single speck of blue in the entire room. Especially now that it had been decorated for the Yule holiday or as muggles called it Christmas.

“Children, happy Yule. I am just going to get down to business since we have a few things we need to get done today. I have a few presents here for you to open right now before we go to eat breakfast, and then I need you to go get dressed and meet me back here for your final present.” Narcissa stood up from the chair she was sitting in without using her hands. 

Narcissa took her wand out and waved it causing a fully decorated Christmas tree to appear in the corner of the blue room. The tree looked like one Tom had seen a picture of in an interior design magazine, Christmas version. Underneath the tree were colorfully wrapped items of different shapes and sizes. 

Hermione let out a squeal of delight at the sight of the presents and ran over towards the tree before plopping down and rummaging through the presents. Tom couldn’t help but give her a curious look at her out of character reaction and Hermione’s face started to turn red, and she sheepishly looked away. Even Narcissa looked slightly confused about Hermione’s reaction towards the presents. Though Hermione didn’t offer any explanation for her actions and neither the old Slytherin nor the Slytherin in the making saw reason to push her to explain herself.

Tom walked over to the tree and sat down next to Hermione, he couldn’t believe how many presents there were. There were smaller boxes hidden behind the bigger ones that he hadn’t been able to see until he had reached the tree. He couldn’t believe that half of these were for him. Hermione started to dig right into the pile of gifts looking for all of her’s. 

They spent the next hour sitting on the floor opening the presents, and in the end, had a nice pile of items set behind them. For Hermione, that pile mostly consisted of books, while Tom’s pile consisted of a wide range of items, anything from a rare text to the latest Quidditch broom. Narcissa used her wand to transfigured their pajamas into clothes that would be acceptable for an outing before quickly ushering them to the Floo, as she called out an unfamiliar name. 

When Tom emerged from the flames with Hermione he had no idea what he was expecting but it hadn’t been this. The room was humongous, brightly lit, and extremely noisy. There were barks, hisses, meows, and people attempting to shout only to have their words drowned away. 

“I thought you might like to have a familiar as my final gift to you. I expect you to pick one out and meet me back here. Remember that the familiar picks you just as you pick it. And don’t worry your magic should lead you to a good match. Now off you go.” 

And before Tom even realized what was happening he was already walking towards the snake section though how he even knew there were snakes here he didn’t know, but he felt a tug pulling him towards one particular cage that held snake with spikes along the back of her head the color of blood. The snake peered up at him, and Tom knew the moment he saw the intelligence in her eyes that she was the familiar he had been looking for. Tom picked up his new familiar and started to head back towards where Narcissa was waiting for him.

Narcissa glanced at the snake and then back towards Tom before saying “That’s a Naviella, one of the most deadly magical creatures in the Wizarding World they are highly intelligent and able to use magic to communicate with their witch or wizard. What’s its name?”

“Circe” Narcissa just nodded her head in agreement though to what Tom wasn’t sure.

A moment later they caught sight of Hermione coming towards them with a black ball of fuzz in her arms. As it turned out the black furball was named Jinx, and Hermione explained that her new familiar was a kneazle with the ability to cause bad luck for whoever crossed her path. Narcissa paid one of the workers for the two familiars before they went back to the manor.

Once they were settled back into the ice cave that was known as Tom’s room Hermione made a “hmph” noise before saying what Tom was sure had been on her mind all day.

“Tom are you going to tell me about what you were thinking earlier?”

“I was thinking and also hoping you were smart enough not to bring up something that I clearly don’t want to talk about.”

“Tom you and I both know that’s not what I meant.” Tom glanced towards Hermione who had turned towards him and put her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed. Tom knew that face well, it was the same one she had worn when Narcissa had commented about Hermione not being able to figure something out. It was a face of pure determination and Tom knew there was absolutely nothing he could do to get her to let go. She was like a dog with a bone, absolutely relentless. A trait that they both shared and normally Tom respected until it became something about him.

Tom suddenly remembered Hermione’s reaction to the presents earlier and found an exchange of information was in order. After all, information was power and there was no way he was about to give away any of it without something in return. “How about I tell you what I was thinking earlier if you tell me about why you reacted to the presents like you did? Since I never took you for the type of person to care much about material things.

Hermione mumbled something under her breath and Tom raised an eyebrow, 

“What did you say?”

“I said fine.” Tom knew that she was lying but didn’t push it knowing she would use any excuse to keep from talking. It was another trick she had learned from Tom, and Tom felt a mixture of annoyance and pride. Pride that she was learning from Tom, but an annoyance that she was using his own tricks and lessons against him.

“My parents, well in particular my dad, and I used to race to see who could unwrap the most presents first.” As Hermione started to talk she got a far off look in her eyes like she was in a far off place. “We would start off standing in the middle of the living room before racing to the tree and grabbing as many gifts as we could and unwrapping them as fast as possible. My mom would always get onto my dad about it saying it was teaching me bad manners or some rubbish. But she never truly tried to stop it even though she could have, she would also unintentionally be the referee and final judge.” Hermione let out a sad sigh before continuing. “It was just a habit for me to run towards the tree.”

With a sigh he reluctantly started sharing his thoughts, “I keep thinking about Wool’s and Dr. Jakyll.”

“Who's Dr. Jakyll?” Something about the way Hermione’s innocent voice saying the despicable man’s name caused Tom to snap and all of a sudden Tom couldn’t keep his thoughts from spilling out. And so Tom told Hermione about everything Dr. Jakyll had put him through, and what Tom had done to him. 

Unbeknownst to both of them, Narcissa sat in front of the fireplace watching them through a spying spell, Narcissa couldn’t help as a few tears fell from her eyes, before murderous rage took control. Despite everything that Lord Voldemort had done and everything she had lost because of him, that didn’t stop her motherly instincts after all this Voldemort was still a young child who had clearly been through hell, and was clearly hurting.

Neither one knew what to say after that and were happy when Jinx walked past the door causing it to fall over, and she just walked over towards where they were sitting and couldn’t stop laughing when Jinx let out an innocent meow like she hadn’t just purposely caused a door to fall over so she could get into the room. Not even having to tell Narcissa about what had happened could stop them from laughing. 

Soon after they fell asleep talking. Narcissa couldn’t help but watch through her spying charm as their sleeping forms gravitated towards each other unintentionally. With Tom’s arm protectively on top of Hermione’s waist and Hermione’s back snuggled against Tom’s chest. They were so entwined that not even a piece of paper could be put between them. And Narcissa couldn’t help but smile as they slept next to each other, just like two lovers would. 


	13. Tom's B-Day (Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the second part of chapter 12 and is just Tom's birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back again for the second part of this chapter. 
> 
> Funnily enough, I am posting Tom's birthday on my birthday.
> 
> I also have a playlist on Youtube I listen to whenever I write that I decided to post a link to so if you ever want to see I listen to you can. But warning it is very weird, and long my actual playlist is 4,000 songs long so I went through the first 1,000 and chose my favorites so yeah there's that.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYLukXNWVRx8ikqwM1nDnf57sE3miyGd1
> 
> And thank you to my Beta and friend who listened to me talk on and on about this and the rest of the plan for First Year.
> 
> Anyway here's the chapter I hope enjoy!
> 
> P.S this is completely unedited and I haven't really had the chance to look over it at all, so if there are any problems with the plot or grammar please let me know.

Tom woke up to a talking Hermione walking into his room.

“Tom I have the whole day planned out. First-” She stopped when she heard him groan, and put a pillow over his head.

“Tom what are you doing still in bed!” Hermione shrieked, “It’s almost noon-” As Hermione went on and on, Tom was debating if it was worth throwing one of his pillows at her. And when she opened the curtains to his room letting the sunlight in he did in fact throw his pillow. He smirked when he heard an “oof” come from her knowing he had hit his mark.

“Really Tom, how uncouth and callow,” Hermione said sounding exasperated “I expected bet-oof” Tom had launched another one of his pillows at Hermione and was pleased that one had also hit its mark. He couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle as he imagined the face she must have made when it hit her. 

“Fine, you want to play this way; well, two can play at this game.” And with that, she smacked him in the head with one of the pillows he had previously launched at her. Tom attempted to get up but Hermione’s onslaught of pillow attacks were making it difficult. So he tried a different tactic instead he rolled over towards Hermione and rolled off the bed causing Hermione to jump back in startled and drop the pillow in her hands. Tom grabbed the pillow and started to stalk her much like a predator would his prey. But Hermione was no one’s prey, and Tom had forgotten about the first pillow he had thrown at her that she now held in her hands. 

And so the most intense pillow fight seen on that side of the English Channel up to that point began.

When it was all said and done the room was covered in white feathers that looked a lot like the snow outside, and that Jinx was enjoying playing in. The destroyed pillows and feathers scattered around casualties from the battle and both Hermione and Tom laid side by side on his bed breathing hard and exhausted. 

Hermione recovered first and was pushing him to hurry up and get ready for the day. “Come on Tom, I have the whole day planned out, and we are already an hour behind schedule which means we have to skip breakfast in order to make up the time. So get up.” 

When Tom showed no sign of moving Hermione resorted to trying to pull him up and off the bed, which didn’t work, so she resorted back to asking, but Tom was enjoying the faces she was making as he didn’t move, she reminded him of a kitten hissing at a Rottweiler. And she was growing more frustrated by the second. 

At this point, she had decided to try pushing him off the bed and was starting to succeed, something Tom wouldn’t let happen. He suddenly sat up causing Hermione to fall face-first into the covers.

“Well, finally.” She muttered.

“So what was so important that you couldn’t wait?” He asked coldly.

“Just hurry up and get dressed. I’ll tell you on the way.”

0~***~***~***~***~0

Tom had no idea what he was expecting when Hermione announced they would be spending the day in Diagon Alley but he definitely wasn’t expecting to run into Abraxas though he really shouldn’t have been surprised it was clear that Hermione was trying to set up a whole day of events with people that Tom, not necessarily cared for or like, at the least didn’t loath. 

Hermione led them through Tom’s two favorite book shops and the Quidditch store, that while it wasn’t one of his favorite stores nor his favorite activity, he didn’t mind the sport, unlike Hermione who hated it with a passion.

~0o0~0o0~0o0~

As the group of three left the Quidditch store Hermione sighed in relief. She couldn’t listen to another conversation about Quidditch or she’d scream, she still didn’t understand the appeal of it. This was also why she was walking a little ahead of Abraxas and Tom who were in the middle of a heated conversation comparing a new broom that had just been released to the one they had.

Most of the crowd parted around her, and the boys and Hermione could only assume it was because she was traveling with a Malfoy. And it was because of this that Hermione didn’t feel a particular need to pay attention to where she was going, it was also why she was startled when she bumped into someone. She turned her head and came face to face with a girl who looked to be around her age. She had the most stunning eyes, that were obsidian black with flecks of white that made it look like her eyes were the night sky and long black hair with streaks of white going through it. Hermione stood staring slightly but the girl stared right back at her, it was like the world stopped spinning, but the moment was broken when she heard Abraxas call out her name and she turned around for a moment to see Tom walking back towards where she was standing. 

Hermione heard a woman call out “Gwen,” And Hermione turned back towards the girl only to see her turn towards the sound of the voice before walking away. But before Hermione could do something the crowd seemed to swallow her up and she was gone. Though Hermione could have sworn the girl had turned around and given her a small knowing, smile, and a wave goodbye just as she was swept away. Something in Hermione’s gut told her this wouldn’t be the last she would see of the girl. By that point Tom had reached her, “Are you alright?” he asked her. All Hermione could do was nod her head, still reeling from the encounter. 

Abraxas and Tom both tried to ask her questions about the encounter, but Hermione quickly redirected, and though she had a feeling both boys knew what she was doing they let her get away with it anyway. 

The rest of the day passed by without any other incident, and the day blew by, and it was time to part ways with Abraxas and go meet Narcissa for dinner.

~0o0~0o0~0o0~

Later that night Tom and Hermione were sitting on the roof of a business above St. James Square waiting for the countdown to the New Year to begin. Tom had always wanted to go to St. James Square and watch the fireworks they launched on his birthday but had never been allowed to when he was in the Orphanage. And he never thought he would be able to now since he was part of the Wizarding World’s aristocrats all of whom would never lower themselves to going to Muggle London nor risk having to mingle with Muggles. 

So when Hermione had announced after dinner that there was one more place she wanted to take him he hadn’t been expecting for her to take him to the Square. But the surprise hadn’t ended there, no instead she had led him away from the crowd and up to the roof of one of the buildings away from the crowd where a blanket, a picnic basket, and candle waited. They spent the next couple hours on the roof eating the food and the cake Hermione had made with the help of the house elves to celebrate his birthday.

As they were waiting for the countdown to begin he heard Hermione move around and pull out a colorfully decorated box out of her pocket.

“I have a present for you, Tom,” Hermione said somewhat shyly. Tom just stared at her in wonder. “Well, are you going to open it?”

Tom unwrapped his present and found the leather cover of a book, Tom opened it and found the pages to be blank.

“It’s a diary for you to write in. I know you never like sharing your thoughts or feelings, but thought that maybe you would enjoy writing them down. And the book is charmed so that it appears blank to everyone but you, and so it never runs out of pages,” Tom gave her an incredulous look. “trust me, Tom. I got the idea a couple of days ago during Yule when you trusted me enough to tell me about the orphanage. I know how hard it is for you to share your thoughts with anyone and you clearly needed to talk about what happened otherwise I know you never would have kept your side of the agreement. But it isn’t good for you to keep everything bottled up inside and since I know you would never agree to walk to someone this was the next best thing I could think of. I picked it up earlier today while Abraxas distracted you in the Quidditch store. But if you don’t like it-”

“Hermione you're rambling,” Tom said in a matter of fact tone.

“Do you like it?”

Tom just nodded still slightly stunned by the amount of effort Hermione had gone through for his birthday.

Hermione, satisfied by his answer, poured pumpkin cider into two glasses and handed one to him.

“Aren’t we supposed to toast to something before we drink?” Tom asked jokingly. 

“Why Tom I didn’t know you believed in following muggle tradition.”

“My parents always taught that the entire point of Christmas is to reflect on things you have done in the past year or things that you have been through, both good and bad. And that the New Year was meant to be seen as a new chapter beginning, that’s what your birthday is. It represents life, birth, happiness.” Hermione paused for a second a thoughtful expression on her face.

“And if you were being serious about toasting then that’s what I want to toast to. Beginning anew.”

“Then a toast to beginning anew” Tom agreed as they clinked glasses before drinking the pumpkin cider. And as the clock rang midnight, and the crowd below began to cheer at the fireworks going off Tom heard words so quiet that he wasn’t even quite sure he heard them correctly come from Hermione, “Happy birthday, Tom, I’m so happy you were born.” Something about those words sent a shiver up his body, but not the type of shiver he was used to. No, this was a new kind of shiver that sent warmth through his body and put butterflies in his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please leave a comment I love to hear from the people who read my stories.
> 
> I am hoping to have the Sorting Hat Chapter around Christmas, though I will try to have it done before then. Unfortunately, I have 2 research papers I have to finish and I am helping my family move for the next few months, so I don't have high hopes. 
> 
> But comments to make me happy and remind me that there are people who care about the story and enjoy reading it.
> 
> I hope you all stay safe and have a wonderful rest of your day!


	14. The King of Death, Diagon Alley, Hogwarts Express, and the Sorting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The King of Death, Diagon Alley, The Hogwarts Express, and The Sorting, what more is there to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovelies, Happy Valentines Day for all those who celebrate it, and Happy Lunar New Years, I am aware that it was two days ago, but I hope you all had a lovely New year, and those who were near the earthquake that happened in Japan are okay.
> 
> I also can't believe that it has been a year since I first posted this story on a whim. I still can't believe the response the story has gotten, I hadn't even thought that my story would get a thousand hits on it 
> 
> Thank you to my beta morsmordre11, and my unofficial beta Angie24 both of whom have been a huge help letting me bounce ideas off of them, helping me fix my grammar, and pointing out plotholes. Without them, this story would be a mess. You guys are awesome!
> 
> And thank you to all of you who have left a comment on this story whether or not I manage to respond to them all, I do in fact read them all. Your comments have encouraged me to write this story, and 
> 
> This chapter is long, at 10k+ words, and about thirty pages long, during which a lot happens, so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Also, I changed where I am going with the story slightly so if you see any big plotholes please tell me and I will go back and try to fix them.
> 
> And for those of you who have been reading this for a while I'm sure you remember the voting for which house Hermione should be in, I know it's been a while but the wait is over, you finally find out in this chapter which house got the most votes.
> 
> Now here's the chapter you've all been waiting for.

The air crackled with electricity and the wind blew across the hill, taking stray pieces of grass with it. The breeze carried the sounds of whining and neighing from the Abraxan in their stables. The grassy rolling hills seemed to go on forever, although Hermione knew that if she just turned her head a little she would see the hills give way to the rocky beach and the caves that went underneath the Manor. 

The caves held a secret, one that very few people -wizard or muggle- had ever seen. Deep in the caves dark and twisting labyrinth was a Moon Pool, which was the home of the monstrous-looking creatures that the Wizarding World called mermaids. Hermione had screamed the first time Narcissa had taken Tom and her to see them. She hadn’t even really considered that mermaids could in fact be real, even in a world of magic it had seemed far fetched that there could be a creature like this. Even then she had been imagining them looking more like the Little Mermaid, a Disney movie that had come out a couple of months before the disastrous field trip. 

Hermione had stumbled across the topic of mermaids while reading Hogwarts: A History, one rainy afternoon. The book had talked about how the lake at Hogwarts was home to many different creatures one of which was mermaids. But Hermione couldn’t believe it so she did what was best at and researched and, sure enough, a few hours later she had learned that Mermaids lived in or around caves that had these things called Moon Pools -though she still had no idea what exactly a Moon Pool was- and that they were very protective of these places. And later that night when Narcissa had asked her what she had been doing that day Hermione had told her. What she hadn’t been expecting was for Narcissa to tell them that there was one on the edge of the Merrythought Estate. Narcissa offered to take her down there the next day and Tom, who Hermione had assumed wasn’t listening to them, asked to join. She should have known that Tom would be interested in learning about something he didn’t know, just because he liked being a know-it-all just like her. So the next day they had trekked down to the caves to see the Mermaids, and even though she had screamed at first she wasn’t scared of them, in fact, they could be quite nice when they wanted to so long as they didn’t think you were going to attack their home. 

The electricity in the air hit Hermione as lightning struck somewhere in the distance and the clouds a dull grey color reflecting her mood. She was nervous to be starting Hogwarts for many different reasons one such reason being that she was about a year younger than the rest of the first years. 

They had discovered this when only Tom’s Hogwarts Letter had come. And because it was quite evident that Hermione could do magic that hadn’t left many other reasons on why only Tom had gotten the letter. When they had found out why Hermione had not received her letter, Tom had told Narcissa and her that he wouldn’t go unless Hermione could go, and he would wait another year. He had also told her in what she had hoped was only a joke (but deep down knew it wasn’t) that if he waited another year he would be the biggest and oldest student and with another year of wandless magic, no one would stand a chance against them.

But Narcissa wouldn’t hear of it, she was determined to make sure that Hermione could go to Hogwarts with Tom and Abraxas, even if it meant petitioning the Hogwarts Board of Directors and Headmaster Armando Dippet to get an exception. But that was the good thing about having Narcissa Merrythought as her guardian, she was not only rich but also politically powerful and had lots of connections. And it didn’t hurt that she was also the DADA professor there, which meant that not only was he well-known and trusted but she also knew the rules or more importantly which loopholes to exploit. So after a day of meeting with the Hogwarts Board of Directors, and Headmaster Dippet, it had been decided that she would be allowed to go a year early.

An ice-cold droplet splattering on Hermione’s nose was the only warning given before the sky opened up and millions of the cold water droplets began to splatter across the ground, soaking her and everything around her. She could sense Tom’s restlessness and slight irritation, she knew it was driving him crazy that she had been acting so out of character lately and he couldn’t figure out why. Hermione had a feeling this was the first time Tom had ever felt worried about someone else, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it.

Ever since New Year’s, they had become closer, and at first, it had started out with them being able to combine their magic and achieve all-new levels of power with wandless magic. Until one night about six weeks back, when they had connected their magic so strongly that it had linked them together until their magic was so intertwined that they couldn’t tell where Tom’s magic ended and Hermione’s began. 

Hermione turned her head up towards the sky allowing the rain to hit her face and run down her cheeks, as she stared at dark clouds. Before closing her eyes and just focusing on the icy cold feeling of the water.

~~~~

They had been sitting in one of the dueling rooms Narcissa had made for them to practice their wandless magic without risk of damaging something valuable. They had been sitting crisscrossed on the floor holding hands trying out a new protection spell, the spell was supposed to surround them sort of like a forcefield she’d seen in a Star Wars movie. Narcissa had been circling them while casting all sorts of jinxes, hexes, and curses at them trying to find a weak point in their spell. Narcissa had started out using basic or low-level jinxes but was gradually beginning to put more power into the hexes and use more serious curses. Hermione knew Narcissa’s goal hadn’t been to harm her or Tom but instead figure out how much they could withstand and where the limits of their power lie. 

When she and Tom had originally sat down and joined hands she could feel their magic swirling around the room in what Hermione thought was a sort of dance for a few moments before settling down over them like the snow coated the ground or a warm blanket had fallen on top of them. She wasn’t surprised that their magic seemed to know that was what they wanted. Narcissa had explained to them that magic was all about intention and magic itself was highly intuitive. It also required a great deal of focus, discipline, decision, control, (and in the case of her and Tom teamwork and absolute trust) which was why so many witches and wizards tended to struggle with wandless and wordless magic. Even the smallest doubt could cause the spell to fall apart, just like a little too much magic, and the spell could explode and drain all a wizard’s magic to the point of death. But Tom believed they could do it and believed that they had done it together in the past, albeit unintentionally, and Narcissa also believed that they could do it safely and successfully. This was why Hermione had agreed to try it and they had been successful up to this point but this spell would be the biggest test of their magic so far.

Hermione could hear the soft humming of their magic working together at first it had been a low, soft, and calm hum but as Narcissa continued to cast spell after spell at the shield the humming began to grow louder and more hectic. Hermione began to feel dizzy as the spell continued to rapidly drain her magic, but Hermione refused to be the reason they failed this test so she held on. But the shield protecting them began to fail and one of Narcissa’s spells shattered the shield before hitting her.

**Hermione fell on to her back as she felt a burning sensation crawling on her body. Hermione could hear her name being called but it sounded so far away almost like a whisper in the wind. She was fighting a losing battle to stay conscious; she just didn’t have the energy to keep her eyes open. The last thing she saw was the concerned face of her first friend before the darkness took her.**

**Hermione had no idea how long she wandered through the darkness for, nor which direction she was heading in. The darkness seemed to be never-ending, much like she thought outer space would be like if there were no stars until she found herself stumbling onto a stone floor that Hermione could have sworn wasn’t there a second before. She looked around the room, it reminded her of a castle’s throne room except it was made out of black marble. And in the middle of the room on top of a small platform was a throne, a man sat upon the throne-like that was what he was born to do. He wore an old-style toga, with a purple and black design that seemed to be constantly changing and it had a gold trim to it that had to be real gold. On his head he wore an onyx crown, the Helm of Darkness, Hermione realized.**

**Hermione lowered her gaze to look at the man’s face only to meet the man’s frigid gaze, from which she didn’t dare look away. Even as she heard heavy breathing coming from behind her, and felt the warm breath as it hit her neck, giving off the putrid smell of death. She wasn’t sure she even wanted to know which of** **_his_ ** **monsters was standing behind her waiting to make her lunch. This staring contest had just become a matter of survival, one Hermione was determined to win. This was why Hermione continued to stare into his bottomless gaze, showing her the monsters that had haunted her childhood, the nightmarish creatures that had lived in her closet and under her bed. And even though her every instinct was telling her to look away, to run, to hide under the covers, or call out, just when she thought she was about to look away, the man closed his eyes and let out a small chuckle, before he whistled, and the presence of what was behind her left and she saw it walk over towards the man before dropping down next to the throne.**

**“Do you know who I am, little girl?” His piercing gaze on her form.**

**“I do. You are Lord Hades, God of Wealth, King of the Underworld. You and your monsters are the reason that almost all sane people fear the dark. You are the owner of the Helm of Darkness, also called the Helm of Hades, which can make you invisible.”**

**“Well, color me impressed, you do know something. But I wonder why you say almost all sane people?” He seemed to muse, “You don’t strike me as the type of person to say something you didn’t mean to say? So then what do you mean by that?”**

**“I mean that not everyone fears the dark, nor does everyone fear death, therefore not everyone fears you. Really that’s quite basic logic, and yet here you were thinking I’m the one who's slow. Maybe you're the one who's slow.” For all of Hermione’s brains and maturity, she was still a little girl, and could still be impulsive. And unfortunately, she had one of those impulsive moments in front of a powerful god, and one who was not very forgiving in the first place let alone after having been insulted by a little girl.**

**Hades's cold, and somewhat lifeless black eyes seemed to ignite with a burning fire and Hermione got the sense that she had just woken up a sleeping giant.**

**“What did you just say to me, little girl?! I will not tolerate being insulted by a little mortal girl like yourself in my own domain!” He bellowed. “Now, what’s the perfect way to punish you for your insolence?” He seemed to think for a minute before he smiled causing shivers to shoot down Hermione’s spine.**

**“You know what I think I’ll turn this into a game instead of smiting you right now,” He said with a creepy smile, “Yes, it’s been a while since my furies have had anything to hunt, and I’ll give you a thirty-second head start just to make things interesting. If I were you I’d start running.”**

**And Hermione did take off running back out of the throne room the same way she had come in. She plunged back into the darkness that she had originally found herself in without a second thought, leaving the King of Death behind. Hermione could hear cackling coming from behind her but didn’t dare look back, she couldn’t do anything that might slow her down. Hermione knew that sooner or later she was going to get caught. She was at a huge disadvantage, the furies could fly far faster than she could run, had far more stamina than she did, and had thousands of years of tracking experience.**

**“Run girlie, run” She heard a voice call out from behind her.**

**Hermione knew that the only reason she hadn’t been caught yet was because they were enjoying the thrill of the chase.**

**But that thrill wouldn’t last forever, and Hermione wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep this speed up. She could feel her muscles getting heavy, and she was panting now, and exhaustion was seeping into her bones. Not that it mattered the furies were so close behind her it was just a matter of seconds before they got her.**

**All of a sudden she saw a flash of light come from behind her and heard multiple different screeches of pain. As she heard a soft but firm voice come from behind her. “Begone, furies go back to your master, and tell him that this girl is under my protection.” She heard the flapping of wings come from behind her, Hermione tried to turn around to look behind her but found she couldn’t.**

**“Oh dear, sweet girl, I’m sorry this happened to you if only this could have been avoided, alas it is too late now, and for that, I am truly sorry.” The voice sounded like she was sincerely saddened by what had happened. “Now then let’s get you home again, it is not yet your time.” All of a sudden a path of light came out of nowhere right in front of her. “Now if you will just walk into the light you will get home.” Hermione hesitated though, she had always been told that walking into the light would take you to the afterlife not bring you back.**

**“Well, what are you waiting for, Hermione? Go on, your family is worried about you and Tom needs you.” Something about hearing Tom’s name spurred her into action and without even thinking about it Hermione walked into the light.**

When Hermione opened her eyes all she saw was pure chaos, everything in the room was floating, and spinning around the room in a way that if she watched too long it would have made her dizzy. The windows had been shattered and she could hear someone yelling though she couldn’t make out what they were saying or who it even was. Hermione could feel a warmth coming from her wrist, and when she looked down she could see the eyes of her snake bracelet were shining like spotlights, and that she had this pearly white aura surrounding her. She sat up and her eyes automatically scanned the room for Tom. She found him a foot or two away from her, he was glowing the same way she was, and his locket had opened and was emitting light just like her bracelet. Hermione could feel Tom’s magic as it covered the room, the magic seemed to be extremely distraught and was destroying the room. Hermione tried to call out for him but her shout got swept away in the noise and standing up could be dangerous and end with her either getting hit with a flying piece of furniture or getting swept away in the wind.

So instead Hermione resorted to crawling army style towards Tom, who was too distraught to notice her moving. In fact, he hadn’t even realized that she was awake until she had put her arms around him. 

“H-H-Hermione,” He whispered shakily into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly as if to make sure she wasn’t about to disappear again. “you’re okay. You’re really okay?”

“Yeah, Tom, I’m okay,” She whispered.

“Don’t die, and leave me,” His warm breath tickled her neck as he spoke, “p-p-please, don’t die.” Hermione didn’t know how to respond to that, so she just squeezed him tighter instead. 

Even though she had only “been gone” (Narcissa’s words) for a minute or two, it had felt like hours. And while Narcissa and Tom had never explicitly said the words to her Hermione knew that for those brief moments she had died. That was the only thing that could explain why Tom had reacted that way and why Hermione had run into the King of Death. Hermione knew that realization made her feel something, sadness or fear that she almost died, or happiness that she literally stared death in the face and won, but instead she had felt strangely numb towards everything. 

Hermione’s parents had not been very religious and she had only been to church on special occasions, she had still grown up believing in God, heaven, and hell. Although finding out about magic had forced her to take a step back and reevaluate her beliefs. Witches and Wizards weren’t very religious in general but when they did “worship” they tended to lean towards the goddess Hecate, the goddess of magic in Greek mythology, and some of the other Greek gods. And Hermione couldn’t help but wonder if death and the afterlife were different for magical people than muggles, after all almost everything else seemed to be different for magical people why not this too.

She knew that this incident had scared not only Narcissa but Tom also, which was why Tom had taken to coming into her room and sleeping next to her at night. And her refusal to talk about or even really acknowledge what had happened worried Narcissa even more which was why Narcissa hadn’t lectured Tom on propriety even though she undoubtedly knew what Tom was doing. Not that Hermione minded it was nice to have someone hold her while she cried after waking up from a nightmare, even if that person didn’t understand why she was crying.

What she had seen while she had been dead had haunted her mind while she was awake, and tormented her while she slept. She didn’t want either of them to suffer knowing what she knew. The quote “Once a secret is known, it can never be unknown.” had been running through her head when she had made the decision to keep what she had seen a secret.

At night Hermione couldn’t help but wonder if the King of Death or if one of his many monsters were reporting back to him. On sleepless nights once Tom’s breathing had evened out, she would climb out of bed, sit on her cushioned bay window, and open it so she could look out at the fields surrounding the Merrythought estate and listen to the breeze as it blew by. Some nights she could swear she could hear the haunting laughter of the furies or threats whispering in the wind. 

Hermione knew that one day she would see Hades, King of Death again, it was just a matter of when, and who would he be taken from her when that time came. After all, one does not simply insult a king and get away with it especially not when that king was also a god. 

They always get even, always.

0~***~***~***~***~0

Abraxas looked out the window again for the fifth time in as many minutes. The room was silent or would be if it wasn’t for the rain pattering against the window and the occasional thunder that boomed not far behind the lightning brightening the sky like fireworks. Abraxas had been out of the country since the first week of June on some trip with his parents and had only gotten back yesterday afternoon. He had arrived at the Manor, not even a half-hour before, planning to spend the next two nights there, since tomorrow they were leaving for Diagon Alley early and the morning after that they were going to be boarding the Hogwarts Express. Not that any of that mattered right now, Tom couldn’t even think of Diagon Alley not with Hermione like this. Though Abraxas had no idea all that had happened in the time he had been gone and was just now seeing the after-effects of what had happened.

“How long has she been like this?” Abraxas asked

“A few weeks and I don’t know why since she won’t tell me what happened,” Tom said, clenching his hand into a fist by his side.

“Well, my father did warn me that women could be confusing,” Abraxas said, letting out a small chuckle. 

“This isn’t the time for your jokes!” Tom said, finding himself suddenly angry. “This is serious, something is clearly wrong with Hermione and she won’t talk to me, and here you are sitting around making jokes. It’s like you don’t care at all!” Tom hadn’t meant to put so much venom into his words it had just slipped out. But Tom wouldn’t apologize for it. Even when Abraxas reared back as if he had just been slapped. Tom didn’t care that his words had hurt Abraxas’s feelings, feelings were something that other, lesser beings had to deal with. Though if Hermione had been here when Tom said that to Abraxas she would have demanded he apologize, and then given him an hour-long lecture about how hurting people’s feelings is wrong, and that feelings are important. Tom could almost see her standing in front of him lecturing him and growing more and more infuriated when he argued back. 

The thought of Hermione made his anger over her strange behavior flare up once more.

Tom wasn’t sure what to do, he was used to being in control of everything, even at the orphanage he had been able to manipulate not only the other orphans but also the adults most of the time into doing what he wanted. He had never experienced helplessness even when it came to dealing with Dr. Jakyll, he had only ever been biding his time before he could take revenge. No, true helplessness was a new experience for Tom and he was finding out just how bad it felt when he wasn’t in control of the situation around him. After all, before this point, all of Tom’s collections had consisted of toys, books, and other inanimate objects. This was his first time collecting not only objects but also people as well. Tom had not realized how much more difficult it would be due to the fact that his collection could move, think by themselves, and worst of all had feelings. This was going to be much more difficult than he had been anticipating.

“Tom tell me what happened while I was gone?” Under normal circumstances, Tom probably would have only given half-truths and only parts of the story Tom deemed important enough to share. But these days nothing was normal, and Abraxas was loyal to Tom and Hermione and seemed to care about both of them. And so Tom told Abraxas everything he could remember about the day of the accident. 

“Bloody hell and Merlin’s boots,” Tom gave Abraxas a dubious look that the blond boy just shrugged off. “No wonder, Hermione’s been acting weird. I mean who wouldn’t be, if what you’re saying is true, then Hermione was dead.”

“That’s what I just said,” Tom growled.

“No, you said she died and came back to life, which is completely different. Hermione was DEAD, as in she was not coming back, as in she had probably started the afterlife.” Abraxas paused for a minute before his eyes grew wide, with excitement, and a smile appeared on his lips. “If she had started the walk of death, then there is a chance she met the King of Death,” The smile he had worn only moments ago had done a 180, and the eyes that had been radiating excitement dimmed with fear and worry. But what truly worried Tom was when Abraxas mumbled “Bloody shite,” For as long as Tom had known Abraxas he was always a boy full of positive emotion and always trying to look on the bright side of things and make jokes when he wanted to brighten the mood of a situation --though they were rather ill-timed jokes-- and he rarely cursed, normally only doing so when excited. So to see Abraxas go from excited to worry and fearful in a matter of seconds, was not a good sign. “If Hermione truly did see the King of Death, then we are in trouble or more precisely Hermione and her loved ones are in trouble, and it’s safe to assume that Hermione probably insulted Death. Death after all does get offended quite easily. Just like it is safe to assume that Death believes Hermione cheated him.” Abraxas had started out talking to Tom but seemed to begin to talk to himself.

“So what do we do about it?” Tom said slightly more worried now.

“Honestly, Tom, there is nothing to do. But for now, the safest thing to do is to try to avoid directly life-threatening activities, and to try to distract Hermione, so she can move past this. Now let’s go get Hermione out of the storm before she catches a cold or gets struck by lightning which has almost happened at least twice.” And with that Abraxas headed towards the back door of the Manor that would take them outside. Tom followed as Abraxas held the door open for him. 

As Tom walked through the door he felt a hand on his shoulder and a voice whisper into his ear. “But, Tom, Death comes for us all, at some point or another. And Death doesn’t tolerate cheaters nor does he like to lose.” 

The door closed behind them, and the rain drowned out how the shadows cast by the fire began to laugh, as the two boys dragged their female counterpart inside and into a dry change of clothes --thanks to the house-elves-- before heading off to bed. 

This is how Tom Riddle began a game of how to beat Death. Or more precisely how the Heir of Slytherin began the game of how to cheat Death. But Death, himself, is not without a few tricks himself. After all, no one beats Death.

0~***~***~***~***~0

Diagon Alley the next morning was packed with families all doing last-minute Hogwarts shopping. Luckily for the trio and Narcissa, they had already done most of their shopping back in May just before Abraxas had left and only had one shop left to visit.

Ollivanders wand shop was the one store that the trio had been exceptionally excited for and disappointed when they hadn’t visited in May. But for Hermione her reason for visiting this store had changed, sure there was still some underlying excitement about getting her wand, but the bigger reason why this was so important was because of the King of Death. Hermione could feel him watching her and her friends on some days. On some days when she was left alone in a dark room, she swore she could see the shadows moving and hear him laughing. Then at night, she could feel him standing over the bed, invading her dreams. Threatening her friends, Narcissa, and her parents wherever they are. Which was why it was so important for her to get her wand and start her Hogwarts training. She needed to grow strong, and not just strong, but strong enough to protect her friends against the king of Death, and if it came down to it maybe even beat him.

Hermione had been doing what she did best and researching the King of Death, his lackeys, and anything to do with him. Which had taken her deep into what the muggles called Greek mythology. It was on the Greek gods and their stories but seeing as to how the gods were still around and some still meddling in human affairs, it could hardly be considered mythology. And what she had learned could be considered good news, but also terrifying. She had learned that the King of Death was just that a king, he ruled over the underworld, home of the dead, and the dead themselves, but was not the God of Death. No, that job fell to the god Thanatos, who was the personification of death, son of Nyx goddess of night, and brother to Hypnos, the god of sleep. She had also discovered two very important things about Thanatos. One that he didn’t work for the King of Death employed by the fates themselves, and two that he could be beaten if you were strong enough to do so when Hercules had wrestled the god of Death and won he had proven that it was in fact possible to beat Death you just had to be strong enough to do so. 

And since Hermione had no idea when they might find themselves visited by the gods again she had to start training now. After all Hogwarts and the Wizarding World, in general, was a dangerous place, especially now with the unrest in Germany. 

Honestly, the reports coming in from the refugees were concerning at best and disturbing at worst. Hermione knew what was coming and the signs and red flags were obvious but people liked to bury their heads in the sand and pretend nothing was wrong until the problem was knocking on their front door. And with antisemitism was on the rise not just in Germany but all over the world including Britain it was no wonder it took so long to get people to do something about it and in the end, cost 75 million lives. 

Hermione knew war was coming in the Muggle world, and she had no idea how that was going to affect the Wizarding World. Death was coming and it was only a matter of time before it began to affect the magical world.

Hermione felt the soft squeeze of a hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked around for a moment slightly dazed, she had forgotten that they were in front of Ollivanders. She looked around trying to get her bearings again and saw her two companions studying her before sharing a glance, worried glance with each other, and Narcissa put a soft hand under Hermione’s chin and turned her face towards her. She was now crouched down closer to Hermione’s height. She studied Hermione’s face for a moment as if looking for something, before staring into her eyes, Hermione felt a small throb in her head like a headache was coming on but as quickly as it was there it was gone. Narcissa stood up and made a show of dusting off her clothes.

Hermione looked at the supposed wand shop, and saw nothing interesting, even though the windows at the front of the store, she didn’t see anything worth seeing, and as far as the building it looked positively mundane compared to the rest of Diagon Alley. In fact, the only way to even tell what this shop was the sign which read “Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 BC” and was written in a pretty cursive font even if it was faded. She couldn’t help but wonder just how long it had been since that sign had been repainted. Altogether though the shop appeared to be a disappointment in terms of magic wonder, and she followed Tom and Abraxas through the shop door Narcissa was holding open.

Hermione should have known better than to judge a book by its cover or in this case a wandmaker by his store.

Once inside they were greeted by a young man who looked like he could be in his late 20’s to early ’30s. His eyes were the color of silver and had a manic gleam in them, his eyebrows looked singed and his hair was so bushy and curly it could rival her own. The man had bags under his eyes that looked so big it could be a sleeping bag for mice. He was dressed in what looked like normal wizarding clothes-- though the word normal being used loosely-- except they were all wrinkled and his dress shirt buttoned up wrongly and with only half of his shirt tucked in. And if she had seen this man out on the street she would have let out a scream before running away. He looked like a combination of the Mad Hatter and a mad scientist both of whom hadn’t slept in more than a week.

The store itself was a mess, every surface covered in piles and piles of what Hermione could only assume were wands, and the only furniture in the room were two purple curtains pulled back to let sunlight in, although the one on the left seemed to have collapsed on one side. A chair with singe marks on parts and a tear on the armrest, and the front desk where the man was standing behind watching the group enter.

“Ah, Lady Merrythought, how lovely to see you again so soon. How’s your wand serving you- Oh excuse my manners perhaps I should ask what brings you here today? Or perhaps that too is rude instead, maybe I should ask how your job is? Or is this also uncouth.”

“Hello, Garrick, you're the epitome of manners as always. Although today is a joyous day because my two children and their friends are here to get their first wand seeing as they start Hogwarts tomorrow.”

The crazy-haired man swung his head towards where she and her friends stood as if only just realizing they were there.

“Ah, a wizard or witches first wand is a special thing, and always a momentous occasion,” He said, seeming to address everyone and no one at the same time.

“But first, Garrick, how long has it been since the last time you slept?”

“A few days, maybe, or a week, perhaps, one never knows with time. It is a tricky, and fickle thing, one never knows how much time one has until one's time has passed.”

“Garrick,” Narcissa sighed, “you should know better th-”

“I know, I know,” he said waving a dismissive hand towards her, “but we have an infestation of Wrackspurts, and I just got a new type of wand core that I have been busy working with.”

“Now then children, I am Garrick Ollivander, wandmaker extraordinaire.”

“Lady Merrythought may I see your wand?” Narcissa handed the crazed wizard her wand, which he seemed to examine with great care.

“This wand is one of my creations, 14” made from aspen wood, and a dragon heartstring, the perfect wand, for a strong-willed woman, who is an exceptional fighter, and teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts and dueling.”He handed Narcissa her wand back.

“Now, then who will go first.” He walked towards them, and looked each of them over, “How about you,” He went to grab Hermione, but Abraxas jumped out first.

“I’ll go first.”

Ollivander just shrugged before walking back towards his desk with Abraxas in tow. He handed Abraxas a wand telling him to flick it, before all of a sudden, setting fire to a piece of paper on the desk in front of him.

“That is to be expected, no you need,-” He disappeared behind a stack of wands before coming back out with another wand and handing it to him, this time when he flicked his wand, he turned a cup of quills into a vase with flowers. Ollivander seemed pleased with the result.

“That wand is Hawthorn wood with a dragon heartstring and 12”. They are perfect for someone who leans towards the Dark Arts since they don’t particularly mind being used for that reason, unlike a unicorn core.”

“Now then, young Hermione, I really think you need to get your wand after all time and death wait for no one and everyone needs time before meeting them.” Hermione reluctantly walked closer to the desk once she was there Ollivander was already handing her a wand. When Hermione flicked it a strong breeze whipped through the store, Ollivander plucked the wand out of her hand before disappearing to grab yet another wand, for the next five minutes Hermione tried out countless wands, one flooded the store, another made it rain fish, she managed to start a fire, conjure snakes, create an electric storm, and cause a mini-explosion. Finally, Ollivander handed her another wand, as Narcissa held Tom and Abraxas behind a protective shield and Ollivander hid under his desk.

This time when she flicked it and felt her magic flow through the wand and it felt like lightning was flowing through her veins and a group of golden butterflies came out of her wand flew around for a few moments before disappearing leaving only glitter behind.

“I had hoped that this wand would be able to handle your magic. The wand is one of my phoenix cores, made of Acacia wood and 10 ¾” perfect for what you are going to need from it. It will take great care of you so long as you take great care of it. I can not truly wait and see what you go on and do with it in your life.”

“Now then, future Lord Riddle, I think I already know the perfect wand for you, just give me a moment to grab it.” He said before he disappeared again and the sound of ruffling and thud of fallen boxes could be clearly heard before he reappeared with the wand, “This is made of yew wood, with a phoenix core and 13 1/2” in length now please test it out.” To flicked it and a mouse with a tophat appeared on the desk.

“Ah, it seems the wand has deemed you worthy to use it.”

“Whatever are you going on about? I chose the wand, and it works for me and my magic” Tom said towards Ollivander like he was daft.

“Ah, ah, young Lord Riddle, you are incorrect. The wand chooses the wizard, not the other way around. for you young man, a special wand indeed. Phoenix feather cores are rare and hard to come by due to the fact that the phoenix must willingly give up a feather. The wands that use phoenix feather can be very temperamental, and independent sometimes acting on its own accord.” Tom went to interrupt the man, but he just kept rambling “They are very picky and only pick the strongest wizards to wield them. But due to their rarity, I only have three wands in my shop with phoenix feathers in them. Of course this morning I had four not that it matters anymore-”

“Reall-” Tom started, but Narcissa motioned for him to stay quiet.

“But what makes your wand so special is that the phoenix that gave the feather in your wand also gave another feather, something that is exceedingly rare. I have high hopes for you young Riddle.” 

“I expect great things from the four of you, children.” He said before ushering them out the door.

Ollivander held the door open for them and Hermione was the last to exit, as she did she felt him grab her arm as he whispered something in her ear. Once he finished and let go she jumped away from him like she had been burned and as she turned around to glare at him she found the door closed and Ollivander already gone.

As they were walking back to the entrance of Diagon Alley Hermione couldn’t help but think of what Ollivander had whispered in her ear as she left. Something told her that as much as she wanted to believe he was nothing but a nut job and blow off the nonsensical things he told her but something told her that what he had said was a warning and what he said would ring true. 

Hermione was jerked out of her thoughts as she felt a pull in her stomach as if tugging her in a specific direction. She stopped walking for a moment and attempted to look around though it was difficult in the sea of people and much to her disappointment by the time she managed to turn around it was too late. She caught a brief glimpse of black hair with white streaks running through it but before she could even think of taking a step in that direction the crowd had already swallowed up the girl and the tugging sensation she felt faded away.

0~***~***~***~***~0

They had arrived at the train early and weren’t surprised that the Platform was mostly empty. There were only five other families on the platform, Narcissa gave them all a short hug, promising to see them sometime before their first DADA class, and watched them board the Hogwarts Express before leaving to apparate to Hogsmeade before walking up to Hogwarts castle to meet with the rest of the staff.

The Hogwarts Express was completely silent causing the trio’s footsteps to echo slightly. They had no trouble finding a compartment since they were one of the first people to arrive. They all settled in comfortably and each of them pulled out a different book and began to read in comfortable silence. 

Over the course of the next hour and a half, more and more families and students had arrived and boarded the train. Destroying the still silence that had covered the train, as other students saw their school friends for the first time all summer. At one point there had been a group of three girls who had let out a shrill shriek as they all saw each other right outside their compartment, at another point, a group of rambunctious boys, who Hermione swore were wrestling banged against the compartment windows as they went by. Not that it much mattered, Tom could continue to read undistracted even through a tornado. But Hermione could see that Abraxas was having much more trouble keeping focused. She decided to put him out of his misery for a little while since she had a feeling that everything would settle down again once they left the station. And so she started a discussion with Abraxas about magical creatures, something that they both had an interest in, though Abraxas’s curiosity went beyond just mere research or interest, no Abraxas was passionate about the magical creatures that roamed the Earth.

Forty-five minutes later the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station and was on its way to Hogwarts, and just as Hermione predicted once the train had pulled out of the station everything around them had gotten quieter sure they could hear the occasional shrill shriek of the group of girls a few compartments down but for the most part it was quiet and both Abraxas and her went back to reading. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been reading long when something happened.

Hermione could feel the person before she could see them the tug was back pulling at Hermione’s stomach again. She could feel the person walking towards them and so she wasn’t surprised when there was a knock on the compartment door and a soft, yet confident voice asked, “Um, excuse me, can I sit in this compartment please everywhere else is full.”

“No, so-” Tom started.

“Yes, you may.” Hermione cut him off and shot a glare in his direction.

Hermione couldn’t help but stare at the girl who had just entered the compartment. This was the girl she had bumped into last year in Diagon Alley and had caught a glimpse of yesterday, seemingly watching her. 

The girl looked like a walking contradiction of colors. She had black hair with white streaks running through it, had eyes that looked like they couldn’t fully decide if they wanted to be obsidian black or white as snow, and seemed to change in an instance. Even her skin looked like it couldn’t decide, with patches of skin the color of caramel scattered all across her arms. 

The tug she felt in the pit of her stomach was still there, but it had lessened when she had come into the compartment. Hermione had been so focused on the girl she hadn’t even realized she had been staring at the girl, for so long until she started to rub one of her hands up the other arm, and Abraxas let out a cough that sounded more like he was choking. The nervousness in the room was so thick it could be cut by a knife.

Luckily for her, Tom, ever the charmer, he when he didn’t want to be, came to her rescue. He seemed to have decided something while Hermione was busy making the room uncomfortable with her stares, and had put on a smile so charming it seemed like his teeth were shining.

“Hello, I’m Tom Riddle, it is lovely to make your acquaintance, Ms….”

“Gwendolina, Gwendolina Dagsworth-Granger.” The girl blushed as she mumbled her name.

“Ms. Dagsworth-Granger, it truly is a pleasure to meet you.” Tom said, still not missing a beat, “This is my friend…”

“Abraxas Malfoy,” Their blonde companion stated proudly.

“I’m Hermione Gr- Merrythought,” Hermione said, changing her mind at the last second about using her name and instead used Narcissa’s last name. “Please, sit,” the girl still looked slightly uncomfortable, “I-I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable with my staring.” Hermione was looking down at her feet, just waiting to hear the compartment door open and the girl leaves. But after a moment when nothing happened Hermione risked a glance up, and saw the girl staring at her, with her head tilted to the side as if studying something curious. After another moment of looking at her, the girl seemed to nod her head before taking a step towards her seat.

“You know, that book you're reading, was written by my mother and father.” She said Hermione took her talking to her as an unspoken acceptance of her apology.

“Really?”

“Yeah, that’s why it just says Dagsworth-Granger on it, instead of the author's first name.”

“Dagsworth-Granger, any relation to Hector Dagsworth-Granger?” Abraxas asked.

“ Yeah that’s my grandfather, my family is really into potions.”

The rest of the train ride was spent talking about potions, magic vs magicks, and magical theories.

All too soon the Hogwarts Express seemed to pull into the station and all the students seemed to pour out onto the platform.

0~***~***~***~***~0

The group of four was greeted by a young man, who seemed to be directing the first-years in a different direction than the rest of the students.

“Right, this way all you first years, towards the boats with the lot of you. Come on, come on, we don’t have all night, we have to get you all to the castle to be sorted.”

The four of them loaded onto one of the rowboats, they knew that all the first years rode up to the castle in, and was one of the many things they had discussed on the train. As they started on their journey across the lake they got to see the last glimpses of the sunset as it dipped behind the lake, and then as night fell, they got to see as Hogwarts castle became bright as the night sky as all the lit candles glowed. It was the most beautiful thing Hermione had ever seen and looked every bit of magic she had thought it would. All too soon the rowboats docked and they were met by a familiar face. Narcissa was waiting to lead all the first years up to the Great Hall.

As she led them she went over the basics of the sorting, and sorting feast, and a summary of all the different houses and their traits, before she had them lineup in alphabetical order. Hermione felt butterflies in her stomach and was starting to get light headed when they walked in the room and was greeted with the sight of all the Hogwarts faculty and all the students. The only blessing was that she was only one person behind Abraxas, due to her request that Narcissa uses Merrythought as her last name. Abraxas kept whispering a reminder for her to breathe in and out. 

Hermione wished she could say she had been paying close attention to the sorting of her fellow first years but truthfully the first name she heard was Gwendolina’s as the sorting hat shouted, “Slytherin!” And last Hermione had checked Gwendolina was the eighth person in line not the first. Hermione watched as her new friend ran towards the Slytherin table.

The line was still moving way too quickly for Hermione’s taste and soon it was Abraxas’s turn, though the hat didn’t even need to be placed even fully in his head before announcing “Slytherin!” Luckily for him otherwise she was sure the hat would have messed up Abraxas’s hair which he had spent half an hour on this morning stating that “Malfoys always dress to impress,” and when Hermione had made a comment about hair not being part of dressing he made the dumb retort, “Yeah, well your hair already impresses, by looking like a lion’s mane.” Which had gotten a pillow thrown at him.

All too soon it was her turn to put the hat on. “My, my, what do we have here.” The hat spoke into her head, “You my dear have the makings to be a brave Gryffindor, a studious Ravenclaw, or an ambitious Slytherin. Now which one fits best for your potential is another question.”

“I see your Gryffindor side, fighting off Dementors, and setting a teacher on fire.”

“What I ne-”

“But your Ravenclaw side is strong, as well, you have spent much time in the library here, and before here bookstores, and public libraries, fill your young life.”

“What are you talking about you dum-”

“Yet still I see your Slytherin tendencies, deceiving teachers, tricking one into following you to a trap, you have morals, yet are willing to lie, cheat, and deceive in order to do what you believe is best. Plus your connection with old Salazar himself.”

“Yes, yes, I see it now, Slytherin would be a good fit for what is to come, perhaps if you had been in Slytherin last time things might be different now, but alas it does nothing to dwell in the past so instead I shall say Slytherin!”

The next thing Hermione knew she was back in the Great Hall, cheering and clapping coming from the tables, as the dusty old hat was lifted off her head. She rushed towards the table that now housed Abraxas and Gwendolina both of whom moved over to make space in between them for Hermione.

The rest of the sorting barely registered with Hermione, and she had barely registered when Tom had come to sit across from her, forcing two other first-years apart to do so. 

The only thing she truly seemed to be capable of doing was eating so she tucked into her food for the rest of the feast. She felt numb to the entire world like she was just going through the motions and she couldn’t wait until she got to lay in bed. 

Finally, when the feast ended she and the rest of Slytherin were led out of the Great Hall and down to the dungeons that housed the Slytherin common room. She didn’t bother paying attention to the password, knowing that Tom could always tell her later. 

The only remotely good thing that Hermione could even feel, was when she found out that Gwendolina was her roommate. Still, she whispered a good night to Abraxas and Tom before begging off to bed, claiming a headache.

She found all her belongings already placed in a trunk at the foot of her bed canopy bed, and her sleeping kitten who just glanced at her before curling up again and going back to sleep, Hermione changed into her most comfortable pajamas before climbing into bed and pulling the curtain down. Though she tried she couldn’t sleep, her mind haunted by all the things that had happened to her in just the past two years.

Things in Hermione’s life had gradually been growing weirder and more dangerous over the past two years. Magic was real, so was time-travel, and the gods, then there seemed to be a hat spouting off things that she had never done before her life and a crazy wandmaker who seemed to know more about what had happened to her than even she did. Though eventually, she managed to drift off into a restless sleep, where a three-headed dog chased after her.

She had no idea that the board of chess was still being set up for the biggest four-way chess match the world had ever seen. A game where one wrong move could cost thousands of lives. A game where the Chessmaster were two psychopaths, the king of death and a supposed do-gooder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here I believe I have a solid-ish outline of Tom and Hermione's first year but seeing as this story is continuously evolving this is subject to change. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think of this chapter, and I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!


End file.
